If the Word of God is not your ultimate authority, then what would be? You could think of several answers: scientific researchers, political leadership, popular philosophers, your own inner voice, your parents, some ancient book of proverbial sayings like Confucius, etc. But what do all of these options have in common? They all come from man and focus on man.
We need the Bible because we need wisdom that comes to humanity from outside of humanity. It is so very helpful to hear the view from the helicopter above when one is stuck in a traffic jam. Similarly, the Creator of all things gives us perspective and direction that we could not otherwise have.
We also need the Bible because we need an enormous amount of help directing our focus away from ourselves. We were not made by God to only think about ourselves, serve ourselves, care about ourselves, and look out for ourselves. We were made to know Him and serve Him and others.
Scripture keeps us looking outside of ourselves, because that is where it comes from. We think we know what is good and right and lovely, but the Word faithfully corrects us. When we submit to God's revelation, we are bringing His authoritative perspective to bear on our lives so that we no longer live for ourselves, "but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf," (2 Corinthians 5:15). His ways are truly higher than ours!
No comments:
Post a Comment