Make it Your Own
April 11
Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?
Acts 19:15
Rafe had always felt he had a meaningful relationship with God….until two hours ago. Now he realized he’d only been giving Him lip service. He’d been challenged over a statement he had made. When the man challenged the validity of his statement, he had adamantly argued his point, saying, “I know what I heard the pastor say!” referring to the evangelist he’d seen on TV.
But the challenger had shown him in Scripture that his belief was wrong.
Faced with the truth, Rafe had feebly responded, “Well, I must have misunderstood what the pastor said.”
The whole way home he’d felt the quiet conviction of the LORD. He realized with startling clarity that his relationship was a compilation of snippets and sound bites, borrowed from people he’d watched, the books he’d read, and the CDs he’d listened to. He’d never taken the time to search out what God’s word actually had to say…he’d simply taken other’s teachings as Gospel.
Broken and ashamed, he lay weeping in repentance for his casual and careless attitude toward the Author of the Book he professed to know so well.
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Relying on others for our faith can foster false and erroneous beliefs with disastrous consequences.
In today’s text, one demon-possessed man beat seven men until they were naked and bloody. Simply quoting something we believe to be part of God’s word not only doesn’t make it effective, it is dangerous!
We need to search the Word of God until it becomes OURS! Many times in the past I have caught myself quoting a verse of scripture, saying, ‘So and So said…’ or after reading something I would say, ‘So and So wrote…’ not realizing there was no power in the verse through third-party connections.
It’s not wrong to watch, listen to, or read spiritual material. Spiritual wisdom and understanding can be gained by doing these things. But if we fail to seek answers for ourselves, relying on others to study for us and not digging into scripture ourselves, we will walk this earth powerless…and the enemy will have his way with us from time to time.
Prayer
“Give me a passion for Your Word, LORD. Create in me a hunger to know for myself what You have to say about every issue in my life. Amen.”
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