Trusting the Bible in practice
We have a Bible we can trust, despite objections people raise against it. God has kindly shown us what he is like and what he has done for us in Jesus. Let’s close by considering what this means for us in practice.
The foundation of salvation and life (Colossians 1:1-8)
When Paul described the church in Colossae, he spoke about their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for all the saints (v4). All of this was because of the hope laid up for them in heaven (v5). And he then explained how they knew about this hope:
Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing– as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
(Col. 1:5-8 ESV)
The Colossians had such faith and love for others because they believed the gospel that had been taught to them. In their case, it was through Epaphras, a gospel minister, a fellow worker with Paul. Back then, they didn’t have it all written down as we do, but the content was taught to them. And as they heard it, they understood it, they believed it, and their lives were completely transformed by Jesus. Such is the power that God works through his word. Power we have seen among us over and over again.
All of us who are Christian, who have had our lives transformed, have had this same foundation. We learnt the gospel of Jesus from the Bible, or someone who told us what was in the Bible. Let’s never forget this. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit, and there is immense power in it. The most loving thing we can do for anyone else is read the Bible with them and help them understand the message from God in it. And the way we continue to grow in the faith is through staying in the Bible.
It is the Bible that matters most. Don’t just read Christian books, or blogs, or videos, or listen to sermons. They are all helpful in their place, of course. But we should be people of the book, people marked by constant reading, discussing, and living out what we learn in the Bible. If it can be trusted, we should trust it, and rely on it as the cornerstone of our lives.
A joy and worthy of all our focus (Psalm 119)
The incredibly long song entitled Psalm 119 is a song praising God for the word he has given to us. The psalmist is so excited by God’s words he has given. And that’s even though he probably only had the first five books when he wrote this psalm; we have far more! He noted that God’s word is helpful for his deliverance, to remind him of God’s promises, to lead him to salvation and life, to guide him when he needs it, to help him to be distinctive from the world, and much more than that. The overall tone of Psalm 119 is one of joy!
Let’s look at just two of the verses as we close:
159 Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.
160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
(Ps. 119:159-160 ESV)
Are you excited by God’s word, the Bible? Do you see how incredible a book we have? Perhaps, after being a Christian a long time, or maybe having grown up in church, you have forgotten the gift God has given us. This is God’s record of who he is and what he has done. This tells us of God’s faithfulness to an unfaithful people like us. It is consistent, it is reliable, and we can trust what it says. It has been copied through the ages, carefully compared, translated to be understandable, and distributed so we can afford it. We have such blessing that believers through history often did not have. We can read it for ourselves, listen to it read and explained, and do this often. What a joy! It makes no sense to say we trust the Bible and never read it. And it is such a waste if we don’t make use of one of the greatest gifts God has given to us. Let’s thank God for the Bible, and endeavour to make the most of this gift!