"That's the great thing about America, everybody's got an opinion... the other thing is that you don't have to listen to them, and that's the great part." - Coach Dennis Green
Admittedly, I am a frequent user of social media (our church Facebook page has 250,000 followers, in addition to my personal profiles). One thing that is certain to be ascertained by even a casual browsing of any given social media site is that people have a multitude of opinions when it comes to Scripture. In fact, posts containing the most fundamental concepts in the Bible can launch hundreds of comments containing opinions more varied than one could possibly imagine. Why? because all of us have heard, read, consumed, and generated opinions about God and His Holy Word. As a result, we stand by and defend these opinions, often without regard or due diligence to confirm their Biblical accuracy.
What a shame it is to consider that we are more apt to listen (and settle for) what someone else tells us the Bible means rather than go to His word and ask God Himself. Think about the many children of God (including His only begotten Son) who sacrificed everything so that you and I would be able to hold the Bible in our own hands.
I implore everyone to read the Bible for yourself. Of course we need church (when you read the Bible this fact is evident) but I think we would do well to set aside devotional, commentaries, and the like and just study God's Word on a daily basis.
In this regard, I do practice what I preach. I started a personal study time on the Gospel according to John and on the first day I discovered something new about this blessed text (it would be contradictory to wholly reveal it in light of the context of this newsletter but I will say the headline of John Chapter 1 could be "Meet Your Maker: Introducing Jesus Christ as the Creator of You and Me").
When we seek the Lord through His Word, eternal truths will be revealed. By these truths, we will grow closer to God and to each other.
