Christian believers are called to be discerning, to test what they are taught with Scripture. They are called to have convictions, beliefs, doctrines. The faith they are called to participate in--is a faith with content, with substance, with facts. The faith they are called to profess is not an empty faith, a fill-with-whatever-you-will-faith. While "the faith" can--when necessary--be simplified to a sentence or two--it is weightier than that. To say "I love Jesus" is the sole content of the faith is just not true. Which Jesus do you love?
"Who is Jesus?" As soon as we begin to answer that question, we are involved in doctrine and theology. No Christian can avoid theology. Every Christian is a theologian. Perhaps not a theologian in the technical or professional sense, but a theologian nevertheless. The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians or bad ones. A good theologian is one who is instructed by God. ~ R.C. SproulSo to be discerning is wise. To be undiscerning--to let anything and everything regardless of if it's true or if it's false--is foolish. But discernment isn't a lone adventure either. It is something we pray for. It is something we receive. It is something we live out--day by day, week by week, as we venture further in and further up in the Word of God. We cannot be discerning without the Spirit of God. We cannot be discerning without the Word of God. It is the Word of God that is our light, our lamp, our sure foundation, our truth, our map, our path, our way. The Word of God is IT--our sole authority. What is not it? What can never--should never--be our authority is OURSELVES, OUR OPINIONS, OUR IDEAS, OUR NOTIONS, OUR FEELINGS, OUR IMPRESSIONS.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:5-7
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; Isaiah 53:6aEven believers struggle with old sins. We fall all too easily into old ways. Into not trusting with all our hearts. Into leaning all too often on our own understandings. Of forgetting to acknowledge God and failing to fear God. Even at our best, our good falls short--falls far far short of perfection.
So the Christian life should be a humble life.
- Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:10)
- Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
I may not have a perfect working definition of humility. (Though pride remains for every single human being a constant thorn in the side). But I do know what it is not.
It is not humility to reject the substance and content of the historic Christian faith--the faith taught in the Word of God--in the name of humility. If the Bible is clearly teaching something, then it is our duty to believe it, to teach it, to proclaim it, to live by it. If the biblical text is straight-forward and no-nonsense. If it something taught not just in one or two verses but in many, many, many places. If it is something so fundamental and obvious that it has been an essential of the faith for hundreds of years--it is NOT HUMILITY leading you to reject it--but pride. It may be veiled pride, a self-deceiving pride. But it is pride nonetheless.
Are there more mysterious and open-to-interpretation passages of Scripture. Yes. My goal is not to say that God can be put in a box and easily explained away, that there is no mystery left to be discovered, that if you memorize this confession or catechism you've got God mastered. That too would be pride and foolishness. My point is this: if the Bible is clear then it is your responsibility to believe it and live it out. If the Bible is not as clear, then you can have your ideas and beliefs about what certain passages mean, but, still be teachable. Those points are not the essentials. They are not fight-to-the-death points or positions.
There are mysteries. You don't have to have the answers. It's good to have questions though. To not think you know it all. There is something to be said for being teachable--by the Spirit, by the Word, by those who truthfully stick to the Word and faithfully proclaim it. The Bible is a teacher who instructs; we will never master it this side of eternity.
It may sound humble to say, I am uncertain. I am uncertain of who God is. I am uncertain if your God is the same God as my God. I am uncertain if we're on the same path to God or on different but equal paths to God. I am uncertain if I can teach you anything about my God, my faith. I am uncertain whom needs to be teaching whom. Maybe you can teach me more about the love of God and who God is--even though you're outside the so-called Christian faith--than I can learn by reading the Bible. Who am I to say that you don't have a good, solid relationship with the Lord?! I'm just too uncertain of everything. I can't possibly say that you are wrong and I am right. For it might just be that you are right and I am wrong. Let's just both agree to be uncertain about everything that speaks of eternity.
That is NOT humility. It just is NOT. That is worldly tolerance stepping in and playing mind games.
When the Bible is clear--we can be certain. We can have confidence. We can have hope. We can BUILD on a rock-solid foundation.
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James 5:19-20
Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. Mark 9:50
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 Timothy 4:2-4
© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible
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