Many in the church today say, “Don't tell me all I need is the Bible. It can't be that simple.” So what's in the religious bookstores? Not Bibles mainly, not books to really help you study the Bible, but self-help books: How to manage your finances. How to have a better marriage. How to raise your kids. How to get along with people. How to be a leader. Do these 5 steps. Learn these 10 principles. Say this prayer every day. That's what people go after today.
Some of those things, a very few, may be of some help. If any of them are truly helpful, it's because they explain what the Bible has to say about these issues. They're designed to increase your knowledge of God's will, found only in God's Word.
But most of them aren't worth the cost of a match to set them on fire. They have little or no basis in the Bible. They're cheap, confusing substitutes for the Bible. The same human philosophy and ethics you find out in the lost world, with some Christian words wrapped around them. They're worse than worthless, because they lead you away from God's Word. They tell you to rely on something else, or worse yet, someone else.
Turn off your spiritual brain. “Just do this.” Here's the easy way. And when you don't rely on God's Word, sooner or later the 5-step program or the 10 principles aren't doing the job. You're right back in the same problem you had before, only now it's worse.
These things aren't God's way. God's way to know God's will is through God's Word. The most practical thing a Christian can do is to prayerfully read, study and internalize God's Word. That's how you'll be “filled with the knowledge of His will.” It's that simple. It's also that profound. |
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