Day 2701 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 15:4 NIV

In all of our advancement and progress and improvement, we've gotten awfully big for our britches. Our heads have swollen and we think we've moved beyond the wisdom of the past. We know better now than they did back then. Yesterday is gone and has nothing left to teach us. History is just a bunch of ancient facts that are good for nothing but memorizing by those who are interested in the past. Simply put, today's world doesn't think anything from the past is worth anything today.

And I really do think that may be why there are so many nowadays that don't believe in the divine authority of Scripture. The Bible was written thousands of years ago, so what could those old people have possibly known about how our world works today? What do they know that could help us in any way? Why should we read some old book that tells us how to live when in our modern world we've figured out all sorts of things that they never would have even dreamed of back then?

Well, because as we've been discussing, the Bible wasn't just written by a bunch of old guys a long time ago. The Bible was breathed out by God who is timeless, and who knows very well what's coming as well as what's already been. When He breathed out those words of Scripture all those years ago, He did so knowing full-well what the future held. He knew what the world would become. He knew the "advancements" that humanity would make. And He knew that sin would in no way fall from favor in this place. And He knew that those who were willing to be different from the evil around them would need help in doing so.

So He gave us His Word. He gave us some of His wisdom. He gave us a manual by which we can learn to live upright and holy lives regardless of the time or culture in which we find ourselves living. He gave us instructions on how to do what's right in a world that will continue seeking all that's wrong in perpetuity. He literally inscribed some of His Words in stone so that we might know the difference between right and wrong and what's expected of us. He gave us a map that leads to salvation from sin through the atonement of His only Son which opens the door to eternal peace and rest in Heaven, a door that our sinful choices slammed shut long ago.

But somewhere along the line, we stopped. We stopped caring about learning. We stopped feeling the need to strive for righteousness. We stopped focusing on God's definition of right and wrong and got it in our minds that we could come up with a better version. We stopped holding fast to the message telling us that we were made in His image with the capacity to do good things in this place and simply settled for doing whatever we find pleasurable or important. We stopped humbly surrendering our imperfect will to His perfect will because ours doesn’t bring all the limits and requirements that His does.

Humanity as whole chose to turn its back on the help that we've been given because we don't want to have to admit that we've had help. We want to be able to pridefully boast in the things that we've done by ourselves. We want to receive the glory for the advancements we make and the world we've made. We want to be able to pat ourselves on the back and tell ourselves how great of a job we've done in living lives filled with excitement and prosperity. And having some old words try to come along and steal our thunder just ain't happening!

Yes, the Bible was written well before our time. But it was still written to teach us. To help us learn important lessons. To help guide us along the only correct path out of the millions of paths that this world has paved before and since, the smallest and most narrow and therefore hardest path to find. To encourage us to keep living according to a high moral standard in a place where immorality reigns supreme. To humble us when we selfishly start seeking our own temporal glory. To guide us to a promise that simply cannot be found or bought in this world.

Friends, I know the human condition is one that teaches us we in order to move forward we cannot look back. We're taught that constant progress and progression is the only measure of success, and that our success is what determines our worth. And when we believe that we must keep moving forward, any time spent looking backward is time wasted and therefore time keeping us from keeping up with the rest of society. And that just terrifies people. This idea of falling behind and losing this vain sense of meaning. The horror of missing out on the latest craze or falling into the oblivion that is social rejection.

But the truth is that as proud of our world as many are because of how this place is advancing, it's advancing in the wrong direction. Evils are being enjoyed more and more. Wickedness is spreading like never before. Hatred is consuming more hearts as the love of many is growing colder. Persecution is ramping up because true love doesn't adhere to the modern version that simply equates to acceptance. And sin is finding new ways to lure people in and convince them that it's okay to do whatever they want to do because their happiness and enjoyment is all that matters.

So yeah, society is advancing, but without the guidance found in Scripture, we're only advancing closer to the demise that has always been at the end of this road of selfish ideals and sinful ideas. Friends, that's not going to change. The world isn't going to change. The majority of people are not going to change. Sin is too powerful. And change is too hard. And repentance is too humiliating. And living right in a place that won't is too unpopular. So the world has chosen its path, and it's time for us to choose ours.

The thing is that while the Bible does teach us hard lessons that we'd like to comfortably ignore, it also teaches us patience. It teaches us hope. It teaches us endurance. It teaches us how to stand our ground and stop being led around by our deceitful hearts or the foolish whims of a society that’s hell-bent. It teaches us how to set our hearts on things above and not things down here. It teaches us how to live upright and holy lives in the time we have remaining. It teaches us how to pursue Christ and live to spread His message through the true definition of love and grace. It was written for our benefit, and the benefit it teaches is truly timeless.

That's what I wish everyone could understand. God didn't breathe out a book that only applied in one time and one place. He breathed out a book that holds truths and lessons and hope and power that have always been valuable and will never lose their meaning or purpose. Friends, we need as much help as we can get. Sure, we've long held to this idea that we could do it all by ourselves, but honestly, we should know better by now. Our pasts prove just how badly we can mess things up when we do it by ourselves. And the current condition of our world only further testifies to all that we can manage to break when we’re doing it by and for ourselves. It's time to try it another way.

It's time to try it God's way. And His way is what we find in those pages of Scripture. Please do yourself a huge favor and read it. Read the Bible. Study the lessons and soak in the truths. Let His Word invade your heart and I promise you'll find a hope unlike anything you've ever known before! A hope that never went away. A hope that doesn't have a timeframe. A hope that will keep us going through whatever may lie ahead. And considering how bad things are starting to look up ahead, it's a hope we're drastically going to need!

The Bible is our reminder that no matter what’s happened before or what unfolds up ahead, it’s all leading to one of two destinations. And when we place our faith in Christ and set our hearts on learning and living out the words of Scripture, then we’ll always have the hope of a better place to come.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold