“My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” These words of wisdom come to us from Proverbs 3. The ways of the world lead to death[1], strife[2] and destruction[3], but putting the teachings of the Bible into practice[4] will bring us life, peace and prosperity.
Finding a foundation to build your life upon is not an endeavor to be taken lightly[5]. A lifestyle is all too often something that many people just allow to fall together haphazardly by circumstances[6] rather than consciously making well-thought out decisions.[7] A follower of Jesus should take great care to be His hands and feet in building a life and legacy filled with intentionality[8] and purpose. In Matthew 7, Christ told this story while sitting on the side of a mountain:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”
The Bible is the primary way that God communicates to His people. He gives us the promises and principles which form the basis for our faith. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”[9] The solid foundation on which we are to build our lives is Christ and His Word. In fact, Jesus is called the Word of God in John 1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcomeit.” The life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus proves the Bible to be true[10] in that He fulfilled over 300 prophecies spanning over 1400 years prior to His birth. In this way, He is the promises of God the Father come true in the flesh,[11] bringing hope to you and to me.[12] This cohesive story of the redemption of humanity is told in three languages by 40 writers from 3 continents over 1500 years and yet we see a consistent narrative containing harmonious truth.[13] The wondrous Word of God has transformed the lives of millions of people over thousands of years, building an impressive testimony[14] that God is real[15] and His Word is living and active.[16]
No matter what critics have done to try to destroy it, this collection of love letters from your Creator to you remains unchanged and every bit as powerful as when it was first written.[17] This is confirmed in Psalm 119:89 which tells us, “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” Whatever war or persecution or destruction happens on the earth, nothing can change what God has divinely revealed to humanity.[18] Why? Because it is eternal and stands firm in Heaven. Potent evidence for the accuracy of our modern versions of Scripture was found with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in a remote cave in the West Bank between 1946 and 1956. The scrolls show that aside from minor variations in punctuation, the words remain the same. There are more than 24,600 manuscripts of the New Testament and the oldest ones are around 125 years from the original events the eyewitnesses wrote about. Miraculously, for two thousand years, the world has had access to reliable copies of the original texts. As far as the accuracy of ancient literature, the Old and New Testaments far exceed any others.[19]
In order to have growing confidence in who we are,[20] find a sense of genuine belonging,[21] and discover our destiny, we have to actually open the pages of the Bible and absorb the truths found there.[22] Once we have studied the Scriptures in a balanced and responsible way,[23] we need to put them into practice in our daily lives.[24] In order to experience life eternal and abundant, you must make the decision to trust not only the Book, but the Word Himself. By faith in Jesus, the heart and mind of the believer is transformed from glory to glory.[25] When we choose to take Him at His Word, we will have life, peace and prosperity, even while we struggle through this crazy, broken world. The storms of life are coming, but if you have allowed the Spirit to guide you in building your life on the Word, the hurricane of trouble might rage, but you will stand firm. God is real, His Word is true, He loves you with the deepest love possible and He has blessed you with hundreds of promises that He will never break.[26] He’s not finished with you yet, and the good work He has begun in you will be completed.[27] It is time for you to discover who you truly are in Him, which is exactly what we will begin to unveil in the next post. Until then, be encouraged with these words of life:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”[28]
[1] Romans 6:23
[2] Proverbs 18:6
[3] Deuteronomy 8:19
[4] James 2:17
[5] Isaiah 28:16, I Corinthians 3:10
[6] Proverbs 17:24
[7] Joshua 24:15
[8] Proverbs 16:3
[9] Romans 10:17
[10] I Corinthians 15:1-7, 11
[11] Luke 4:21
[12] Colossians 1:27
[13] Romans 16:25-27
[14] Revelation 12:11
[15] Romans 1:19-20
[16] Hebrews 4:12
[17] Isaiah 40:8
[18] II Timothy 3:16
[19] Evidence That The Bible Is The Word of God | Life’s Most Important Question (lmiq.org)
[20] Hebrews 10:35-36
[21] Romans 8:16, Ephesians 2:19, Galatians 3:26
[22] II Peter 1:3-4
[23] II Timothy 2:15
[24] Colossians 3:16
[25] II Corinthians 3:18
[26] Numbers 23:19
[27] Philippians 1:6
[28] Colossians 1:9-14
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