(The following is the October 31 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Hebrews 13 and pay close attention to verse 9.)
The Bible includes more truth than we will fully understand in this lifetime. We read about creation in Genesis to life in God’s eternal kingdom in Revelation. Old Testament prophecies anticipate the coming Messiah and are fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Psalms and wisdom literature reflect the majesty of God and the range of human emotions and experiences. We marvel at the beginning of the church with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and see its growth through missionary journeys and letters to early believers. The Bible is a God-inspired library of truth spanning thousands of years of history. It is entirely trustworthy.
Even with this inspired book before us, sinful humans often look elsewhere for God and truth. Some turn their eyes and ears away from God’s book and look to sources that satisfy their curiosity and tickle their ears. That’s nothing new, of course. When Paul was taken to the Areopagus, “all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). This contrasts with the Bereans, who “received the word of God with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). The author of Hebrews warns, “Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings” (v. 9).
Why do people look elsewhere for truth? Perhaps they desire a god made in their image. Maybe Scripture convicts them of sins they are unwilling to forsake. Christians know, however, that we have God’s eternal truth in the Bible’s 66 books. We need not look elsewhere.
Next Step:
Did you ever chase “various kinds of strange teachings”? What enticed you to explore them? What brought you back to God’s Word?