The popular notion of God, as if He were a benign, aging grandfather, sitting passively in heaven—affable, lenient, permissive, and devoid of any real displeasure over sin because He loves us—cheapens God's love. It doesn't uphold the value of His love. In truth, looking into God's heart to discover His love is to discover His other attributes as well.
In the beauty of God's holiness, we see the ugliness of our wretchedness, yet we also find the encouragement to be holy…as He is.
Our belief or disbelief in God adds nothing to nor takes anything away from His glory, any more than our sight or hearing commands the sun and the birds. But if we were suddenly struck by disobedience and self-conceit to steal God's glory, even then He would remain undiminished. God's glory is His and His alone, and with no other does He share it.
When the Apostle Paul was alone in Athens, as recorded in Acts 17, he found himself in the busy market place full of idols in the streets of Athens, far away from home and a long way from Christian friends. It’s in that context that we are given an example of the fruit of biblical preparation and compassion as Paul delivered a free-speech platform and proclaimed the God of heaven and earth and His Son, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.
We have been learning how to study the Bible for ourselves, through observation, interpretation, correlation, and then application. We observe what a passage says, interpret what it means, correlate what it says elsewhere about the same subject, and then ultimately we apply it.
You don’t have to be brilliant or significantly creative to know the Bible, but you do have to spend time preparing, studying, praying, and focusing your time and attention on the text of Scripture. Preparation is essential.
We have previously spent time learning about observation, interpretation, and correlation in the process of learning how to get into the Word for ourselves. Now, we come to the crowning part of the learning process—the application of God’s truth to our lives.
Many false teachers and heretics quote eloquently from Scripture, but distort God’s Word to serve their own purposes. Chuck Swindoll describes the critical importance of context when interpreting the Bible.
Many Christians have good intentions about reading the Bible, but struggle to understand what it actually says. Chuck Swindoll explains how to observe and interpret God’s Word.
If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you’ve probably found yourself skimming over certain verses that you’ve read many times before. Chuck Swindoll reminds us that there’s always something new to learn from every passage of Scripture.
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Insight for Living is committed to excellence in communicating the truths of Scripture and the Person of Jesus Christ in an accurate, clear, and practical manner so that people will come to an understanding of God’s plan for their lives, as well as their significant role as authentic Christians in a needy, hostile, and desperate world.
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