A little truth goes a long way

There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Useful things are seldom discarded - we use them time and time again. If we begin to view scripture as something we can 'discard' or 'disengage from' in our daily lives, we are in danger of losing one of the most secure and trustworthy things that can 'sculpt' our lives. I have mentioned in other posts that scripture is to be taken in its entirety - not weeding out some truths and latching onto others. All scripture was 'hand-prepared' by God himself - taking special note of what we'd need to hear in order to understand his love, grace, and peace. We cannot leave parts out and expect to comprehend his greatness - it just isn't possible. I will grant you, there are parts of scripture that are a little 'dry' - but even the 'dry' parts lend background to the messages we embrace from scripture.

Scripture reveals truth. When in doubt, or just needing to 'fact check' something you are thinking, there is no greater resource than the Word of God. Ponder a thought long enough and you will likely begin to think it truth - even when it is not! Take your 'ponderings' to God's Word and you will begin to see if there is a difference between the way God sees the matter and how you are seeing it at that moment. Probably more concerning to us is this issue of scripture exposing places in our lives where we are just being rebellious. It exposes wrong thought patterns as much as it exposes wrong behaviors. Many times we are quite happy to continue in our rebellion, so we avoid any scripture exposure in order to avoid exposure of our rebellion! How foolish of us to think we can escape God's Word - it has a way of burrowing into the hardest of hearts, intervening in wrong thought processes, and getting all 'up in our business' when we least expect it!

It is a warming thought to consider the 'restorative' power of scripture - helping us to recover from our mistakes. A whole lot of self-help books have been written over the years, but nothing beats a good intake of the Word of God to show us where our 'self' has the greatest need for 'help'. God isn't put off by our mistakes and he doesn't want us to dwell in the muddle we have made because of them. If we were to be honest, we don't want to dwell there, either! Scripture has a way of opening our hearts, freeing our minds, and creating peace once again. How? It drives us to confession - to expose our wrong-doing and wrong-thinking - opening us up to a new way of doing and thinking. We need this more than we may first admit - our mistakes taking us down roads of self-doubt, worry, and crazy imaginations that we cannot undo ourselves.

So, the next time you are considering if scripture is 'worth' taking the time to explore, consider these questions: 1) Have I been repeating my mistakes over and over again? 2) Am I sure what I have bought into in my thought life is really truth? 3) Are my anxieties because of my own thinking and doing? If you can answer yes to any of these, then consider this - truth can 'un-muddle' the mess we make of life quicker than anything we can do on our own. A little truth may just be what is needed to settle your thought life, renew your aching and anxious heart, and set you on course again, free of your past mistakes. Just sayin!