Know and Believe God's Word

Greg Beale's, A New Testament Biblical Theology, scores big points with his perceptive analysis of the ongoing deceptions afflicting the church today. Besides the errors of Adam and Eve and Israel, where they refused to simply trust the truth of God as He spoke, there is the church's continuing failure to simply do what we know . . . be what we profess . . . act on what we say we believe. In spite of all of our knowledge, we still prefer the lie. We still refuse to change our minds, our hearts, our lives. He concludes chapter seven with application for where we live:

The heart of the matter is this: do Christians know God's word, do they believe it, and do they do it? If not, then the lies of the evil one will slip into our lives and churches ever so subtly. When this happens and the process goes unchecked and uncorrected, then the deceptions begin to pour in like an overflowing river (cf. Rev 12:15) . . . Do Christian families make God's word the center of their homes? Do pastors set aside sufficient time to study God's word in preparation for Sunday sermons in order to "be diligent to present yourself approved to God as workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth" (2 Tim 2:15)? If not, then the false teaching of those "who have gone astray from the truth" will make inroads into the church (2 Tim 2:18). (223)

Never grow weary of reading your Bible

Let's heed Bishop Ryle and never grow weary of the slow, steady, growth that comes from the daily, disciplined, increasing, love affair with reading the Bible.

Do not think you are getting no good from the Bible, merely because you do not see that good day by day. The greatest effects are by no means those which make the most noise, and are most easily observed. The greatest effects are often silent, quiet, and hard to detect at the time they are being produced.

Think of the influence of the moon upon the earth, and of the air upon the human lungs. Remember how silently the dew falls, and how imperceptibly the grass grows. There may be far more doing than you think in your soul by your Bible-reading. (J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion, 136)