Tag: reasoning

Living Under the Divine Authority of the Word of God

Mark 1:22
The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority–quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

The Jews were astonished at the great truths that Jesus was teaching. The nature and importance of what He was teaching was unlike anything that they had ever heard. The teaching of Jesus was distinctly different from the teaching of the Scribes, who relied so heavily on traditions. The manner in which He taught was also different. He taught with such grace, such gravity and such majesty. His teaching was rich in evidence and power. He taught as if He had the authority to do so and needed to rely on no one else for the basis of His teaching. He taught independent of all men, all tradition and the religiosity that preceded Him. He taught fully dependent on His Father in heaven.

What made Jesus’ teaching distinctly different from the teachers of the law was that He taught and lived under the absolute authority of Almighty God. Everything that Jesus did was based on the truth in God’s Word. No wonder he stood out from teachers of the law who based their teaching on every other form of authority. Some sought their authority based on the things that they had reasoned through their own logic. Some sought their authority based on the traditions that history had revealed to them. Some sought their authority based on the trending ethics and morals of their culture. Some even sought their authority based on their emotion. It is no wonder that the people were able to recognize the brilliance of Jesus’ teaching.

Although we may never be teachers, we must decide under what authority that we will make our daily life decisions. Shall we make our life decisions based on our own reasoning? Shall we make our decisions based on what traditions teach us? Shall we make our life decisions based on what is trending in our culture? Shall we make our life decisions based on how we feel? If we follow any of these false forms of authority, we will open ourselves up to short-term regrets and eternal risks.

Let us make all of our life decisions under the only real authority. Let us build and sustain our lives based on the absolute authority of God’s Holy Word.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us the Truth, Your Son, Jesus. We thank You for the amazing and life-changing doctrine that He delivered to us with divine authority. We praise You for inspiring the authors of the Books of the Bible so that we might have the Good News of the Gospel for presentation throughout the ages. We pray, Lord, that our lives will be living testimonies to the way, the truth and the life that Your Son secured for us on the Cross. May the world around us be drawn to Your Son, Jesus, as they see us living under the divine authority of Your Holy Word. We ask all these things in the name of the Witness to the People, Jesus Christ.

When “A” for Effort is not Good Enough

Acts 9:4
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

Saul thought he was doing everything right. He was on fire for his spiritual cause. Unfortunately for Saul, his cause was grounded in his own reasoning without a foundation of faith in Jesus and without the direction of the Holy Spirit. Saul rightfully could claim an “A” for effort. But he was not being accused by Jesus Christ for his efforts, he was being challenged for the self-driven misdirection of his efforts.

Just like Saul, all of us will face a day when the Lord challenges us. As with Saul, Our Lord has grounds to accuse us. While Jesus may not have grounds to challenge us for persecuting His church, He probably will have a strong case for challenging us on the grounds of our obstinacy in following our own will and not fully surrendering to the call of Our Lord on our lives.

While Saul surrendered his old life and became Paul, the apostle, we may have hung closer to our old nature than the new one that Jesus has for us. While we may not have been strongly challenged yet, at some defining point, like Saul, we will all be strongly and directly challenged by Jesus to denounce our old lives and accept our calling as His disciples.

Let us set aside our own plans. Let us seek God’s plan for our lives. Let us submit to God’s plans for our lives with the same fervor that Paul did.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Your Son. We praise You for setting aside a perfect plan for our lives in Your kingdom here on earth and in heaven. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity. We pray, Lord, that we will not be directed by our own ambitions, but be led by Your Holy Spirit. We claim Your promise that through Your Holy Spirit, Your strength will be perfected in our weakness. We beseech You, Father, that You grant us a double portion of Paul’s fervor for proclaiming Your Good News to the world. We pray these things in the name of our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.