Spirit Level

John and I have travelled all over the place I have met lots of people who have formed a belief system over time that doesn't really line up with the Word. 

These people are not evil or nasty, but their experience or lack of understanding, bring them to a place where the Word is not the final authority in their lives.

Consider a man trying to impress his girlfriend by putting up a shelf in her cottage.  He gets out his spirit-level and duly puts up the shelf.  When the spirit-level looks totally flat, he steps back to proudly survey his work, and to his surprise, it looks completely wonky!!
He realizes that actually the old fashioned cottage was not straight to start with.  The walls were wonky, the ceiling wasn't straight and the floor was off kilter.   He has two choices. He can leave is straight, though it doesn't look right or he could move the shelf so it looked straight, even though the spirit-level would show that it clearly wasn't.

The Word is like the spirit-level in our lives. Sometimes, when we step back and see it in our circumstances we think something looks wonky and our tendency is move to line up with our experience, instead of rebuilding the foundation itself!

In 2 Tim 3:16 it says that ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God and v17 explains that through the word that we are made complete to go on to the good works that God has planned for us.

It is easier for us to let our experience get in the way of what the Word teaches, rather than to really make time and give attention to lay the foundation correctly.

The truth is that when we build on a faulty foundation, we will struggle.  We know the parable of the foolish man who build is house on the sand v wise man who built his house on the rock.  When we build our foundation on sand, all will be well in good times, but when the storms of life come, we need to have our foundation straight.

There's no shortcut to this.  How do you know what God's word says, if you don't read it!   Spending time in the word is non-negotiable.  Not because we want to legalistically make it an exercise or daily chore, but because we realize it is essential to our relationship with God, spilling into our daily lives, our well-being and our spiritual growth.