Know the Words of Jesus

In an earlier post about devotionals, I recommended that you do not read Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. In that blog post, I linked to an article by Pastor Tim Challies entitled "10 Serious Problems with Jesus Calling". If you are currently reading Jesus Calling or thinking about reading it, I highly encourage you to read "10 Serious Problems with Jesus Calling".

If you are currently reading Jesus Calling, I am asking you to test it against the Bible. Search the Scriptures. I challenge you to compare the words of "Jesus" in that devotional with the words of Jesus in the Bible. An easy way to do this is to read just the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Revelation. If your Bible has the words of Jesus in red, it will be that much easier. If your Bible does not have the words of Jesus in red, go to BibleGateway.com. Type in "Matthew 1" without the quotation marks, select your preferred Bible version and click the search icon. When Matthew 1 appears, click on the gear icon and select Red Letter (see image below). Ask yourself if the words of "Jesus" in Jesus Calling match the words and the tone of Jesus in the Bible. If they don't match up, which are you going to trust? The correct answer is to trust the Bible.

(Note: I am not a Red-Letter Christian. I believe that all of the Bible is the inerrant word of God. However, for the purpose of comparing the supposed Jesus in Jesus Calling to Jesus in the Bible, I am asking you to specifically focus on the words of Jesus in the Bible because Sarah Young claims that Jesus spoke to her and she simply wrote down what he supposedly said to her.)

Friends, the Bible is God's word and it is all that you really need. If you choose to read a devotional, then keep this in mind: a good devotional will always point you to God's word. A good devotional can be a helpful tool, but it is no substitute for the Bible. Remember the words of the apostle John:

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. - John 20:30-31

Jesus did many other things, but everything that you need to know about him and what he said - so that you may believe that he is the Savior so that you can have eternal life - is written in the Bible. Friends, you do not need extra messages from Jesus. You do not need more. You have all that you need in the Bible. Get to know what Jesus has already said. Read the Bible today and every day.

What Does the Bible Say?

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ." - Colossians 2:8

Christians should get into the habit of asking themselves this question: "What does the Bible say?" Every time you hear a teacher, a preacher, or read a religious or spiritually-sounding meme on Facebook, ask yourself, "What does the Bible have to say about that?" What does the Bible say about joy and happiness? What does the Bible say about pain and suffering? What does the Bible say about who Jesus is? What does the Bible say about there being only one way to God? Why does it matter what the Bible says? Because the Bible is God's word and it is truth. In my opinion, the more of God's truth that we know, the better we will become at filtering out and distinguishing worldly wisdom from Biblical wisdom.

One of my favorite tools is OpenBible.info. Type in a topic that you want to learn more about (like 'false teachers'), and OpenBible.info will retrieve Bible verses related to that topic. Read through each of the verses; better yet, read the verse that comes before and after that verse; better still, read the entire chapter from which that verse is taken; even better, read the entire book in which that verse is found.

I know I'm repeating myself, but take the time to get to know God's word and start reading the Bible today. Absorb God's word like a sponge so that you can squeeze out false teaching and worldly wisdom. May the word of Christ dwell in you richly.