Tag: Bible

The Book That Stands Alone

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

I am a lover of good books and highly value many that are on my shelves! But the Bible stands alone from all other books in my life! I believe it to be the inspired, inerrant, infallible and authoritative Word of God. It is the single most important source of my understanding of God and all of His creation. It shapes my faith, guides my life and gives me a lens in which to view and understand the world around me. It is the book that God has chosen to reveal the way to Heaven. I agree with the venerable John Wesley when he said, “O give me that book!   At any price, give me that book of God”.

The Bible stands alone in its origin. It was written over a span of 1500 years by 40 different authors from all walks of life (kings, philosophers, fisherman, poets, statesmen, farmers, physicians and scholars). It was written on three different continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) from palaces, dungeons and wilderness haunts, during times of war, peace, prosperity and famine. Composed on stone, clay, papyrus, and parchment, those original manuscripts were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit without contradiction or error – thus providing for us God’s holy Word.

It stands alone as the mind of God. Scripture is indeed the revelation of God’s mind. It is certainly not His entire mind but it is all that He has chosen to share. If we are to think as God thinks; if we are to see life as He sees life; then we must saturate our minds with scripture. The Apostle Paul admonished the Roman Christians to readjust their thinking by the “renewing of your mind” using the Bible as the means to do so.

Scripture stands alone as the source for absolute truth. The Bible is the only reliable moral compass that we have. We are moral and spiritual creatures living in a world that is controlled by moral and spiritual values. The concepts of good and evil are innate in our human psyche; yet sin has distorted our understanding of truth as well as disabled our ability to live it. We cannot, either individually or collectively, decide what truth is or what is to be accepted as a true standard for moral behavior without the transcendent absolute truths that are given to us in Scripture. To deny Scripture as the standard for absolute truth is to remove any absolute standard for moral behavior and reasoning.

The Bible stands alone in its ability to change the course of history as well as the lives of those who live that history out. A simple verse of scripture, quickened to the heart by the Holy Spirit, can radically alter the course of a life and a nation – writing a new future for both! No other spoken word has such impact. No other book has such power. “Oh, give me that Book! At any price, give me the Book of God”.

We Are Becoming What We Love

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Family / Marriage, Ministry, Theology

We are all in a constant state of movement. Ask any parent and they will tell you their tumbling little toddler is running rapidly toward becoming a towering adult. Ask any teacher and they will tell you that the first grader struggling to read small words and add simple figures will someday be reading the classics and doing calculus. On the other hand, ask the doctor about aging, and he will tell you that we are moving away from strength to weakness, and from life to death. For the Christian, Paul says we are, “being changed from glory to glory.” (II Cor. 3:18)

We are all in the process of becoming. We have moved from what we were and are now moving toward what we shall be. The troubling thought about this is not that we are moving, but what we are moving toward. Life refuses to let us be still. We are ascending or descending – mounting up or sinking down.

An important question in this process is, “What determines our direction?” According to A.W. Tozer, “we are becoming what we love. We are to a large degree the sum of our loves and we will of moral necessity grow into the image of what we love most.”

No wonder the greatest Biblical commandment admonishes us to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37) Jesus infers this in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Where your treasure is, there will be your heart be also.” (Matt. 6:21)

You and I are being molded by our affinities and shaped by the things we love. This is the reason behind much of the drift, compromise and worldliness that we see happening all around us. Much of what people call a new found freedom in Christ is nothing more than an unrestrained display of a deep love for this present world.

The law of moral affinity will either cause us to reflect Biblical values in our activities, attitudes and adornment or else will mold us into something that reflects the values of this fallen world. Both Jezebel and Judas were at one time pink-cheeked innocent children, but they set their affections on the wrong things and were carried downstream by a moral undertow. There is no middle ground. It’s not where you are at this moment; it is where you’re moving. You are becoming what you love!