Devotionals

Respecting the Word
2 Corinthians 4:2
"But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God."

For Paul the gospel is the grandest theme of all. There is nothing that compares to the value of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. For a person to distort, malign, adulterate, misconstrue, water-down or to sugar-coat the gospel is to be disgraceful and underhanded. Paul refuses all such means that will any way alter the precious word of God. Paul the apostle actually believes that the 'Word' is from God and thus it has binding authority upon the lives of all humanity, including his. Paul is in the public spotlight proclaiming the gospel with the conviction that what he is saying is directly God's message. Paul is not giving lip service to the word nor is he performing an act in order to convince people he believes the word. Paul is putting his life on the line by the motivation of a sincere belief that God's word truly is his word.

Today even church people seem to have a very low view of the word. Very few people are willing to deal honestly with the written text. People's opinions, desires, and presuppositions seem to be the guiding force of so many discussions. There is a drastic deficit of conversations that seek to see what the Scriptures say in order to make decisions. Some of the current issues that are at stake in our day are homosexuality, women pastor's, abortion, Calvinism, war, family structure, issues of authority, church government, and etc. Opinions and presuppostions fly from every direction, but where are those who will dig into the word of God and ask, "What do the Scriptures say?"

Dearly beloved, I challenge you to make a resolve such as Paul did concerning the Scriptures. Either embrace the word of God as his authoritative word or openly reject it as common literature. There are enough people straddling the fence who say that God's word is authoritative, but yet deny it by verbal positions and physical actions. Resolve in your heart to take every issue that you deal with to the word and allow God to be the final voice of authority. "Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar (Rom. 3:4)."