Watersheds, Life Direction, and Hearing the Word
On the highest peak of the highest mountain a narrow less-than-an-inch ridge can set the course of rivers. It's called a watershed. If a drop of rain falls to the east of that ridge, it'll flow eastward. If another falls just an inch away on the west side it'll flow westward. In the end they will be thousands of miles apart.
Life is full of watershed moments; moments in which decisive direction determining conclusions and/or choices are made.
How you answer the question "Has God spoken and is the Bible His final Word?" is a watershed. If the Bible is God’s final Word (i.e.-His ultimate authoritative revelation from which all saving truth is to be gained, and by which all truth-claims and opinion/preferences are to be tested), then the course of life is fixed.
If you are convinced by the Spirit of God that the Bible is the Word of God, life can only flow along a path marked by two further life-consuming questions: "What has God said?" and "How then do I need to believe and live?" Life will move irresistibly toward a course of study (to know God's Truth) and submission (to believe and obey God's truth). Life will be marked by a persevering impassioned quest to learn and to do; to hear and to obey.
If one lands on the other side of this watershed, doubting or denying that the Bible is God's Word, then life will flow along an entirely different path. It will not be impassioned to hear or obey His voice. At best it'll be mildly religious, respectably broad-thinking, philosophically undecided, spiritually double-minded.
I think I detect in today's church this fundamental double-mindedness. Too many debates rage over gender roles, the nature of God's sovereignty and the perfection of His knowledge, the existence of an eternal hell, emergent perspectives (and a host of other matters), which when you listen carefully are being argued, not over the text and meaning of Scripture, but over the integrity and authority of Scripture.
In other words, people's arguments against historic Christian doctrines often seem to reveal a lack of conviction that the Bible is God's Word and the final authority for faith and practice. As they recount their journey away from biblical orthodoxy they admit that it began with personal philosophical or emotional struggle rather than Biblical data.
At a more personal level, when people say: "I know that's what the Bible says, but...", unbelief that the Bible is God's authoritative voice is exposed. People “but” their way out of obedience to God’s Word because at least in the moment they do not really believe that that’s what it is. Similarly, the fact that many Christians do not read their Bibles consistently or give themselves to a life of learning God's truth reveals the same foundational flaw in their faith. Logically such neglect can only mean that one's confidence that God has spoken and that the Bible is His final Word is weak at best.
I know that we all (myself included) battle the flesh and the busyness of life, and this makes Bible disciplines hard to practice. But don't you think that there must be something fundamentally askew in our thinking about the Bible (whether or not it is God's Word) if we are not making it our relentless habit and impassioned commitment to read it and hear it and obey it?
Here's the watershed: what will you decide about the Bible? Land on one side of the question and you'll move toward a life determined by personally preferred opinions. Land on the other side and you'll live life in a perpetual posture of an eager and humble submission: "Lord, speak. Your servant will believe and obey."
Where have you landed?
Life is full of watershed moments; moments in which decisive direction determining conclusions and/or choices are made.
How you answer the question "Has God spoken and is the Bible His final Word?" is a watershed. If the Bible is God’s final Word (i.e.-His ultimate authoritative revelation from which all saving truth is to be gained, and by which all truth-claims and opinion/preferences are to be tested), then the course of life is fixed.
If you are convinced by the Spirit of God that the Bible is the Word of God, life can only flow along a path marked by two further life-consuming questions: "What has God said?" and "How then do I need to believe and live?" Life will move irresistibly toward a course of study (to know God's Truth) and submission (to believe and obey God's truth). Life will be marked by a persevering impassioned quest to learn and to do; to hear and to obey.
If one lands on the other side of this watershed, doubting or denying that the Bible is God's Word, then life will flow along an entirely different path. It will not be impassioned to hear or obey His voice. At best it'll be mildly religious, respectably broad-thinking, philosophically undecided, spiritually double-minded.
I think I detect in today's church this fundamental double-mindedness. Too many debates rage over gender roles, the nature of God's sovereignty and the perfection of His knowledge, the existence of an eternal hell, emergent perspectives (and a host of other matters), which when you listen carefully are being argued, not over the text and meaning of Scripture, but over the integrity and authority of Scripture.
In other words, people's arguments against historic Christian doctrines often seem to reveal a lack of conviction that the Bible is God's Word and the final authority for faith and practice. As they recount their journey away from biblical orthodoxy they admit that it began with personal philosophical or emotional struggle rather than Biblical data.
At a more personal level, when people say: "I know that's what the Bible says, but...", unbelief that the Bible is God's authoritative voice is exposed. People “but” their way out of obedience to God’s Word because at least in the moment they do not really believe that that’s what it is. Similarly, the fact that many Christians do not read their Bibles consistently or give themselves to a life of learning God's truth reveals the same foundational flaw in their faith. Logically such neglect can only mean that one's confidence that God has spoken and that the Bible is His final Word is weak at best.
I know that we all (myself included) battle the flesh and the busyness of life, and this makes Bible disciplines hard to practice. But don't you think that there must be something fundamentally askew in our thinking about the Bible (whether or not it is God's Word) if we are not making it our relentless habit and impassioned commitment to read it and hear it and obey it?
Here's the watershed: what will you decide about the Bible? Land on one side of the question and you'll move toward a life determined by personally preferred opinions. Land on the other side and you'll live life in a perpetual posture of an eager and humble submission: "Lord, speak. Your servant will believe and obey."
Where have you landed?
Labels: Faith, Hearing God's Word, The Word of God
posted by Tim Shorey at
11:07 AM
4 Comments:
Tim, what you have expressed in this entry is so very true, so very important, so overwhelmingly important! I am convinced that you are dead on in your observations.
If once we recognize what Sacred Scripture really is, Who its ultimate Author really is, that it is the vox Dei---- the very voice of God written; the verbum Dei----the very word of God written, then, then we will, we must realize and be gripped by the fact that it is speaking to us with consummate authority----with the authority of the living God Himself! What then can be our only sane response but that of "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears"?
You are so right to call this a watershed issue. What may seem like a minor difference at first at the split in direction at the top of the mountain, in the end makes all the difference in the world. As one of my heroes in the faith, Francis Schaeffer, said:"It makes all the difference as we might expect, in things pertaining to theology, doctrine and spiritual matters, but it also makes all the difference in things pertaining to the daily Christian life and how we as Christians are to relate to the world around us. In other words, compromising the full authority of Scripture eventually affects what it means to be a Christian theologically and how we live in the full spectrum of life".
For what Scripture says, God says, through human agents and without error. By God's incredible kindness and mercy I count myself as one who has landed solidly on that side of the watershed. Thank you O my Father for such undeserved goodness that you would allow me to be on this side of the divide!
Thank's Tim, for faithfully reminding us of these things.
Bruce,
This blog is worth writing just to give folks a chance to hear from you!
Your comments in recent days reveal a grasp of the truth along with a corresponding application of it to life and care. It is a great joy--and a blessing to all who read. I've been blessed by this for years; I'm thrilled others get to eavesdrop on your thoughts via this medium.
Thanks for the encouragement of this comment. Thanks even more for the long record of faithful passion for the truth of God and the God of truth.
Bruce,
That last comment was from me using Gayline's computer!
Though I'm quite sure she would fully agree.
TMS
Tim, thanks for your kind words----they are better than I deserve. Soli Deo gloria!
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