The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
--Psalm 19:7
In his book The Journey, the great Billy Graham writes about coming to a point in his life of reconciling himself to the Scriptures as the complete and authoritative Word of God.
You see, early in his ministry, a friend had challenged Billy to change the way he talked about the Bible. His friend said that Billy’s approach was outdated and irrelevant. And for a while, doubts swirled Billy Graham’s mind.
Finally one night, sitting alone in a cabin, he thoroughly examined the Scriptures and what the prophets and apostles said about God’s Word. And a little later on a walk in the forest, Billy knelt by a tree stump and prayed these words: “Oh, Lord, there are many things in this Book I don’t understand. …But by faith I’m going to accept it as Thy Word! And from this moment on I’m going to trust the Bible as the Word of God!”
From that day forward, when Billy preached, he confidently proclaimed, “The Bible says…!” And that message changed the world!
Ultimately, you must reconcile yourself to God’s Word, too. Look at the evidence, examine the Bible’s claims, and get on your knees before him.
Make this your prayer today: “Lord, I don’t understand everything in the Bible, but by faith, I accept the Scripture as your Word.”
ULTIMATELY, YOU MUST RECONCILE YOURSELF TO GOD’S WORD, TOO.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
2 Timothy 4:2–5
It is tempting to look around at a society that is increasingly anti-Christian and think that we are going through something unprecedented. But as Paul’s final letter to Timothy makes clear, the problem of people rejecting the truth is not new. It may take different forms from one generation to the next, but the allure of listening to comfortable lies rather than painful truth is hard to resist. Indeed we need to be on guard in our own lives to reject false teaching that simply tells us what we want to hear.
Our mission is not to, by argument or logic, correct all those who believe what is wrong. Instead, we are simply to stick to proclaiming the truth and trust God to provide the harvest. “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Our responsibility is to be faithful to present the truth. There are times when there are great results and times when there are none. That does not reflect on us if we are remaining faithful in either circumstance.
The temptation is to judge ourselves by whether we are seeing great harvests. But while we should do everything we can to reach others, as President John Quincy Adams liked to say, “Duties are ours, results are God’s.” The seasons may come and go and the harvest will change with them, but He always honors those who remain faithful in His service.
Today’s Growth Principle:
God is looking for those who are willing to remain faithful to the truth in every season of life.
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