Faith handles Truth better than Crisis

Accepting the authority of the Scriptures doesn't come naturally. For starters, it's just a book. It appears to be another voluminous text, like many others we have on our shelves. But it's far more than that. It's loving admonition, clear insight into every day, season, and circumstance of life, its timeless wisdom that has saved entire nations and continues to save many. There are two attitudes we can have towards the Scriptures. We either believe it or we don't.

When we believe the Bible, we must accept its authority, assimilate its truth, apply it's principles and respect its warnings. That's asking a lot, considering the fact that we are talking about just a book. That's where Faith comes in. Even when we have completely understood a biblical principle, it is faith that releases its power into our lives. Take, for example, a statement in Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." That's completely true. We read it countless times and ignore its principles. When we believe it, though, discernment begins to develop within us, and we realize that some instances of anger were based more on tone than the fact of what was spoken. That's because a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The truth of that Scripture has now come alive in us, we know it to be true, but it'll take some time before we begin to apply it in our lives.

This flexibility in giving the time it takes before we accept Scriptures is a principle used many times in everyday life. We find a great example in suspension bridges. Suspension bridges are designed to be flexible. They will move vertically (up and down) and laterally (side to side, like a swing) to accommodate wind, change in temperature, or load (the weights placed upon them). A suspension bridge that's not flexible would break very quickly. That's the right attitude to the truth of Scriptures and a picture of how faith works in our lives.

The alternative is to completely ignore the truth, sometimes because of our emotions, sometimes for other reasons. When we do this, we make opinions greater than the fact (the fact of Scriptures). We then find ourselves blindly following an opinion irrespective of reality. It will always lead to crisis. Crisis is a painful path to the truth. When we choose to believe God's word, whether we understand it or not, we make room for God and His Word to go to work in our lives, and the results are amazing. Worry almost often dissappears because there's a God working on our behalf. Fear gradually begins to reduce because most times fears are not real anyway, we actually become gracious, as we learn that a society without grace does not work. With faith, we are far better able to handle the truth of God's word and bring its benefits into our lives.

#Grace

#Faith

#Love

#Gospel

#Goodworks