Living the Truth of Scripture

By Dean Collins

I suspect that the majority of my readers believe that the Bible is true. Certainly, the Bible testifies for itself that the scriptures we read are inspired. I suspect that many readers can quote Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:16:

 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

 And of course, there are biblical scholars and apologists who can provide dozens, if not hundreds, of examples from history that help us confirm the authority and the trustworthiness of the scriptures. I have heard a few Christians get pretty riled up if anyone questions the inspiration or trustworthiness of scripture. So, if it is true that we have great confidence in truth of scripture, I wonder why we have such a hard time believing it, or maybe I should say, practicing it?

Recently, I heard a podcast where John Eldridge described our need for meditation and reflection on scripture and why we have such a hard time actually pausing long enough to truly spend time with God in prayer and meditation. Eldridge suggested that our struggle with our communion with God has gotten increasingly worse since we gained access and began to utilize the various search engines we have on the internet.

Here is an example from my own life. I do a lot of research when working on just about anything. The fact that I don’t have to get up and walk or drive to a library means I have nearly instant access to what I want to learn. I won’t get into how we must learn how to filter what is true and what is not true because that is a completely different topic. 

In just seconds we can have financial data, ancestry information, recipes to prepare tonight’s dinner, rules to a game, and on and on. We have been trained to have instant solutions to nearly everything. And we now want instant answers from anyone and everyone, including God.

The almighty God can, and sometimes does, provide quick answers to our prayers and needs, but we often forget that God dwells in eternity and we live in the constraints of our calendars and clocks. And of course, as good Christians, we also often pray in the Lord’s Prayer and separately that God’s will be done in our lives. 

I suspect you have learned what I have learned: that while we might in a few seconds have verbally given our lives to Jesus, it takes time for us to actually live consistently the life he has called us to live, one that reflects his life and glorifies our Father in heaven.

I don’t want my thoughts to discourage you, but I do want to challenge you, as I challenge myself, to sit with the idea that we often don’t seem to actually believe the many truths of scripture. I will use Psalm 16 as an example, but we could use many other passages and go through the same prayerful consideration that I want to suggest that we might need to do on a regular basis.

The psalmist t declares in Psalm 16 that he takes refuge in God and boldly follows with this statement: “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As this short psalm progresses, the psalmist says, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” 

I imagine you love and value this beautiful declaration of trust in our Heavenly Father, but if this is to really be true in our lives, we will need to not only take time to let it sink in, but we must actually talk to God about it and act like we truly believe it.

I cannot declare that God is my refuge yet live my life in ways that suggest that my family, my job, my bank account, or any other thing is where I find my protection. If God is my keeper, then I must actually live and act like he is.  

When the psalmist said, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot,” the intent is that God is our inheritance and that he holds our future in his hands. As the psalm continues, the psalmist says that the lines that define his portion are pleasant. It is not that it is wrong for us to try to buy or build a pleasant home or consider what we might pass on to our children that helps them have a nice life, but the psalmist is indicating that nothing in this life compares to what we have in and from God, both now and in the future.

I think we tend to push the talk of inheritance and pleasant places into sometime after we die, but that isn’t actually biblical thinking. We will in fact receive a wonderful environment when Jesus returns and makes all things new, but we are to live in this moment “on earth as it is in heaven,” believing and practicing that God is our everything and not just a handy thing to keep in our back pocket in case our thing doesn’t work out. 

As we continue to pursue life with God, I pray that we would learn to expect God to be less instant in answering us yet always present to guide and direct us. When we do, we might just find that in his presence there is fullness of joy, at his right hand are pleasures both now and forever more.

Father, forgive us for the many times we read and quote your word yet chose to make our own way instead of seeking you in every aspect of our lives. Deepen our faith that we might live and act like people who can not only say that your word is inspired and true but exemplify that it is through our humility and trust in you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Your Time with God’s Word
Psalm 16:1-11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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