Without it we will die a sad and hopeless death.
As we follow the Apostle Paul’s path on his second missionary journey, we come to a very curious place. Luke gives the oddest description of the religious people that lived there.
After being chased out of Thessalonica right on cue with his normal pattern, the missionaries came to Berea.
Luke then records the following statement:
“Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”
Noble.
This nobility was played out in their actions. They didn’t just take Paul at his word. They took it to the source. They evaluated his claims in the light of God’s word.
They didn’t want to be hoodwinked. They wanted to get to the root of the matter and make sure that what he said was true.
The Bereans only get 6 verses in Acts 17. About halfway through the praise of their noble actions, a mob from Thessalonica arrived and stirred up trouble, forcing Paul and the ministry team to move on.
But under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, Luke captures this little snapshot of their noble actions.
They heard the word.
They researched the word.
They received the word eagerly.
We really should all strive to emulate the Bereans.
Lately I’ve been convicted that the most underrated commodity in the universe is Truth.
It’s vitally important that we anchor our lives to truth. Only then can we find the peace and purpose that God has for us.
All around us people are claiming to have the truth and telling us that we need to align to what they say is true.
The only thing I think is certain is that they don’t have the truth, and like the serpent in the garden, they are really pushing an agenda.
But after a while of hearing nothing but someone else’s agenda, the truth can be hard to discern. Alternatives creep into our lives and become the points that we base our lives on.
- Who are we before God?
- What did Jesus accomplish at the cross?
- What does it mean for our sin nature to be crucified with Jesus?
- What is the purpose of our spiritual gift?
- What is the expectation of discipleship in our lives?
- What around us is worth spending time on and what is garbage that will pollute us from the inside out?
These questions and many more are about finding the truth.
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We will find truth in Him, but often we run everywhere else first to see if we can get the truth we so desperately need.
And all the false truth that we hear hurts us and breaks us. And we don’t even recognize it.
So where do you run to find truth? How do you evaluate what you hear to know what is true and what is an agenda or a “narrative”?
The bottom line is there is only one place that you can count on. And if you don’t go there, you’re almost certain to get played. It doesn’t matter how much you love or respect the person telling you “this is true.” They aren’t God, and they have a sin nature.
And yes, you could even apply this to the email you’re reading right now.
It bears checking out.
Just as everything outside of God’s Word must be reviewed with a healthy degree of skepticism.
I’ve seen this lately in my own life. Things I told myself were true simply weren’t. And when I found what God’s Word tells me, and started basing my decisions on that, I found drastically different results.
So check it out. The passage in question is Acts 17:10-15.
One antidote for poor sources of truth is to continually run to God’s Word. Once per day. Ten times per day. One hundred times per day. You can’t do it too often.
I’m highlighting 2 (new) resources that could be of assistance. If you love old hymns, my book I Will Sing of My Redeemer shows you how the old songs are drenched in the truth of scripture. You would do well to dwell on them to saturate your day with these thoughts.
Thanks to the technology of Google, I’ve converted the books to audio. Yes, it’s AI technology that simulates the spoken voice. But it’s allowed me to get different voices to read the book.
I’ve got 2 versions. One narrated by an AI named “Marcus” – who has a male voice. The other is narrated by an AI named “Mary” – who is obviously a female voice.
You can get them on my website here: https://www.dennis-stevenson.c… Listen to a sample in your browser and pick the voice that you like to listen to. Take the audio with you wherever you go and let it draw you back to the truth of God’s Word.
Then see if dwelling on these great songs that speak of God and the gospel and the life that Jesus bought for us with His blood doesn’t change your outlook and ground you in truth.
If these audio books don’t float your boat, that’s fine. Find something that does. What matters is that you cling to the truth and refuse to shift on inch (or centimeter) off of it.
Until next week…
Dennis
