Today's Devotional

 

September 19 , 2007

                                                                                  

Subject:   The Bible And Me 

Isaiah 8:20 - "... if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." 

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I had a conversation with a student on yesterday evening.  It was one of those "life" conversations.  She was talking about her temper and how she couldn't take anyone yelling at her or disrespecting her.  Like most students that I encounter, they're adept at articulating "how they are," but she didn't have a plan at all for changing it or growing beyond that point, so I simply asked her, "how are you going to fix it?"  She seemed surprised at the question and her answer let you know that she'd never really thought about "fixing it."  She later went on to say, "well I believe that you should do to others the way you want them to do to you or something like that.  I think that's in the bible and I live by the bible and me."  She was done when I heard that.

Sadly that's the way many people live their lives.  They live by the bible and whatever else they want to add to it.  A couple of years ago I wrote a devotional about God's math and explained that anything we add to Him or to His word subtracts.  We can't live by the bible plus our own thoughts, opinions and ideas.  It's got to be "sola scriptura (the scriptures only).

The student was not only confused about the scripture, but she was talking about things out of a darkened heart.  As the scripture above says, if someone speaks not according to "this" word, it is because their is no light in them.  You simply can't have a wrong viewpoint and attitude on life and get the scripture to endorse it. 

Today take a check and see if the bible is the final authority for your attitudes and actions or if perhaps "you" are the final authority.  It can't be "the bible and me" it's got to be "the bible." 

Carlen