I know this will come as a surprise to you many of you but
Christianity is actually a pretty simple thing. It gets muddled and
complex when we inquire about things we aren't meant to know, but as
for what God really expects of us it is pretty basic. At the core of
Christianity is faith, "the firm and certain knowledge of God's
benevolence toward us founded on the truth of the freely given
promise ofJesus Christ that is both revealed to our minds and sealed
on our hearts by the Holy Spirit," (this is a pretty close
paraphrase of John Calvin's understanding of faith). Faith is rooted
in the Word of God, which is the Bible. In order to have faith it is
a good idea to know what is in God's Word and, when we study it, we
will get a pretty fair idea of how we are to live.
That's it, you build and grow your faith in God through Jesus Christ
and the Holy Spirit and you read and study the Bible to nourish that
faith and to live your best life through God. See? Easy. So how come
it seems so hard? I think for those of us who find the Christian
faith to be a challenge and who find our lives unfolding in
directions we don't like the problem lies in our grasp of Scripture.
The Bible should play a central role in the story of our lives. It
should do exactly what the words from Psalm 119 say, it should show
us which way to go in our lives. When faced with a challenging
decision the teachings of the Bible should often provide clarity to
our actions. The only problem is all too often we don't know what
the Bible says. What is in there? What does it say to me in this
life situation? We don't know. And the answer is NOT opening the
Bible to some random page and sticking a finger down and saying,
"aha, this is what God wants me to do!" To be Christian, more
specifically to DO Christianity, we are obliged to make God's Word a
lamp to our feet. It may seem daunting but just start reading and
you will get the hang of it.
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Prayer: Holy God, please help me to immerse myself in your
Word. Guide my mind to you and show me the way you want me to go in
my life. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen
[text from file received by Phil Blackburn, First Presbyterian
Church] |
