The next tool we are equipped with as born-again believers is the knowledge from God to study, have Him teach us and understand His teaching. 1 Corinthians 2:12 says, “We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us”.
Why study? You have been adopted into a new family, the family of the Kingdom of God. This is truth, shown in scripture. 1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” John 1:12 says, “And to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” 2 Corinthians 6:18 says “And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” And there are many more.
This new family, just as any family does, has its own unique way of being a family. It is not familiar to us, because its core principle involves a supernatural love –because of God’s great love for us in sending His only son to die for our sins, He fills us with His love and asks us to love Him and love of others. Out of this principle flows every instruction to us. But if we never open His instruction book, how will we learn? If you are a parent, imagine that when your child is born, you do not provide any instruction on how this child should behave. The child would grow up wild and unruly without your parental authority over their life.
The bible is God’s parental authority over our lives. It is not a guide or a recommendation on how to be; it is God’s authority over our lives. Now that sounds strict, unloving and legalistic. And this would be true if God were a mean-spirited dictator. But He is not. He loves us so much that He had these instructions written down for our own good, so that we would experience lives filled with purpose, filled with thanksgiving, filled with forgiveness for others. His instruction to us produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
It is authoritative over our lives because we have given God authority over our lives when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and SAVIOR, and God the Father becomes our father. We can trust what we read just as it is written. We don’t have to go looking for “special spiritual understanding.” He made it plain and simple for everyone to be able to understand.
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