If This is True, Then...

Today we will review the major truths discussed throughout the week. Take a moment and consider what we’ve explored. Which truths did you connect with? Which ones were difficult to understand? Allow yourself to reflect on these important truths.

God wants to communicate with you. He has written a book that gives you everything you need to understand the gospel, to trust Him, and to follow Him. He has written Scripture in a way that you can understand it, no matter your background. The Bible is God’s book to you. He has given you sufficient guidance for the things you will face in life. If we truly believed this, when faced with a decision, the Bible would be the first place we’d turn to for answers.

With that in mind, God intended us to live in community with one another. Peter wrote, “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). Understanding and applying the Scriptures should be done in community in the local church. How does your community help you understand the Scriptures in deeper ways?

Many of us start the new year with plans to read the Bible regularly from that point forward. By the time we hit Leviticus in midspring, our well-laid plans have turned into good intentions and wishful thinking. We know the Bible is good for us, but do we believe we need it? Do we see it as a helpful book or a crucial communication from God almighty, without which we can’t live the Christian life?

Without the Scriptures, we wouldn’t know the gospel and we’d still be lost in our sin. We would only have rumors about the identity of God and we would know nothing for certain about His will. In giving us the Bible, God has made all things plain.

We know the gospel and who God is because of His Word. He has not left you in the dark concerning His will for your life. It’s all there—from Genesis to Revelation. It is not an elaborate guessing game. We can know His will so we can follow it.

Over and over again, the Bible claims to be the true words of God. Repeatedly, God warns against adding or changing His words. In the last few words of the New Testament, John strongly warns against adding to or subtracting from God’s words and that doing so will lead to dire consequences (Revelation 22:18–19). The reason John warns us so sternly is that Scripture is God’s truth.

If we believe this is true—that we can understand the Bible, that we need the Scriptures to live the Christian life, and that we can know God’s very words—how would we spend our time? We would prioritize time reading the Scriptures and discussing the Scriptures with those around us. Do our lives reflect that we believe in these truths? What would our days look like if we really believed the Scriptures are all they claim to be?