[Biblemat] A) WHAT DO YOU THINK?

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Thursday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Well, we have our first snow of the season and it is not very much.
Here is an article from my files:

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

     "What's on your mind?"  I can't even count how many times I've been 
asked that question.  But what it proves is that there is no way for you to know 
what I'm thinking unless
I declare it, explain it, make it known.  And if it is an impossibi-
lity to read each other's minds, how much more to know what's on the mind of 
God, to know what He's thinking?  Un-
less He declares it, explains it, and makes it known.

     The Bible makes a claim about itself that the words written
on the pages thereof are not the result of human interpretat-
ion or will, "but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Pet. 1:21). 
 That means that we can know what is on
God's mind, because He has revealed it to us through this
God-breathed message.  He has eliminated all the guess-work
and communicated His thoughts to us, "so that we know the
things freely given to us by God" (1 Cor. 2:12).  In other words, the mind of 
God has been fully declared, explained,
and made known.

     Some people think that a relationship with God is depend-
ent upon your emotions, how you feel about something.  Others will tell you 
tht it's whatever their parents or grand-
parents have taught them.  And some will stand behind what
their preacher believes or teaches from the pulpit.  But each
of those approaches to religion are questionable and renders
the Bible as irrelevant and unnecessary.  You never have to
open it up and read it for yourself, because you do what feels
right to you.  Or you follow your family's beliefs, thinking they
wouldn't lead you the wrong way.  Or surely your preacher
has to be right, right?

     Jesus said the words that He spoke would judge a man on
the last day (Jno. 12:48).  That identifies the Word of God as
the standard for the judgment.  Not your feelings.  Not your
family.  Not your church.  Not your preacher.  And if our obed-
ience to those words will ulitmately decide our eternal destiny
doesn't that imply that we ought to take some time to read
and study what they say?  What good is it to have access to
the mind of God if we continually keep our mind closed to it?

     What do you think about that?  Actually, the important
question is what does God think about it?  And if you make
a commitment to start reading into His mind and seeing what
He thinks, I'll make a promise to you.  You'll start thinking like
God thinks and seeing things the way He sees them.  Think
about it!    -------- Bubba Garner via Gospel Power, Vol. 13, No. 51, Dec. 
17, 2006.
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