How do you know?

I met a very interesting lady this week.  She was raised a Catholic, but honestly, was spiritually just mixed up.  She talked about how all roads lead to God, and crystals and demons, and and all sorts of bits of other religions patch-worked together to make a very bizarre philosophy of her own.

 As we talked, I asked her what she based all this on, and of course she really didn't know.  I explained (though a little less directly) that when we pluck beliefs out of thin air, we are really setting ourselves up for trouble.   

 In Matthew 7 we read the parable of two men. One who built his house on the sand, and one who built on the rock.  When the storm came, the house on the sand had no real foundation and so it fell.   Jesus said that was like those people that heard his words and don't do them. 

 I think this also applies to when we don't really know what his words are in the first place.  We build our house out of a bit of this, and a bit of that, but there is no foundation.  

 I know I've been talking a lot about the Word, but I make no apology.  The truth is, as Christians, if we're not basing our faith on the word of God, then we are going to be on dodgy, and unstable ground.  We need the Spirit of God and all that means, but it is the Word which brings balance to our lives and keeps us from going off on the wrong track.

 In Acts 17:11, Luke records the fact that after preaching in Thessalonica, some trouble got stirred up, and Paul headed off to Berea.   Luke goes on to say of the Bereans that “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so...

 Bereans were really open to the things of God, but they wanted to make sure they were hearing the truth, even from Paul!!   They took what they heard, went back to the bible and verified it was so!

 So many christian's don't have the word as their foundation.  They can'e even really tell you why they believe what they do.   Let's be like the Bereans, open to the Spirit but searching the word to know that it's true!

 Have a great weekend.

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