To Encourage You

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

Do you realize that your view of the Bible, the Word of God, is exactly the same as your view of Christ, for Jesus is “the Word made flesh?”  If you don’t love the Bible, you don’t love Christ.  If you don’t know the Bible you don’t know Christ.  If you doubt the words of Scripture, you doubt Christ.  If you’re not interested in the Bible, you’re not interested in Christ.  If you spend little time with the Bible, you spend little time with Christ. These things go hand in hand.  Yet, we often find that people who have little interest in the Bible and have little knowledge and understanding of it have no problem with describing in detail their view of Christ. They seem to know what Jesus did or did not believe, what His love was like, or what his views about all sorts of issues were.  These views, i.e., views based not on Scripture but on some other concept or vague notion, are what the Bible calls “imaginations” in 2 Corinthians 10:5 above.  They are false ideas based on someone’s imagination, an imagination formed by anything but the Truth of Scripture, or at best half-truths.  

One of the commandments of Christ to his followers is to “cast down” such thinking, for these imaginations are the very things that damn people for all eternity.  In our discussions with unbelievers, we are called to confront the lies about Christ and his Word with the Truth.  We are to “speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).”  But it is impossible to “speak the truth” if we don’t know it, and it is impossible to demonstrate the love of Christ if we don’t have any understanding of what that love really looks like.  The truth of these things, as opposed to “imaginations” about them, are only found in the Word of God. 

Do you want to know Christ? Then read his Word.  Do you want to love Christ? Then obey his Word.  It’s all pretty straight-forward.  Even a child can do these things if they sincerely want to.  God has promised us that “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).”  And that seeking is described by the writer of Psalm 119 in this way: “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments (Psalm 119:10).” The commandments that he speaks of are found only in the Word of God.