Protecting Your Heart From Deceit

I'm an admirer of Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel. I became even more impressed with him as I heard him speak to our Ohio ministers this past spring via interview by our Superintendent. I love the statement he always makes when his team is leading in the second half of taking the "surest path to victory". The rationale is if you're holding a lead late in the game and winning being the goal - don't do anything to mess that up. Makes a lot of sense.

Spiritually it makes a lot of sense as well. As Christians there is a way that we can take the surest path to victory and guard our hearts from deception and heresy - this surest path is the proper study of the Bible. Many will agree that the Bible is the infallible and authoritative Word of God. But how can we make sure we have the proper interpretation of the Bible? How do we ensure that our understanding of God's Word is the right one?

Human history is littered with desperately deceived people misusing and misquoting the Bible to advance a cause or an agenda. Some pretty awful things have been done in God's name throughout history. It's our job as genuine Christians to make sure that we don't make those kinds of mistakes - and the job of pastors to equip and train the wonderful people that God has entrusted us with to guard against this deception.

Here's a thumbnail sketch of how we can make sure we are understanding and interpreting the Bible in the proper way:

First, pray for wisdom before you begin reading. James says: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5.

Historically people tend to fall into doctrinal error when they become Biblically unbalanced. James again says: "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure..." The wisdom of the Lord guards us from error and heresy because it is first pure, or true. Remember there are some great people, preachers, teachers and some wonderful human beings both historically and currently who have fallen off the wagon theologically and fallen into error because of this very point. Only a humble reliance on the wisdom of the Holy Spirit can keep us sound. No one is exempt from this.

Next make sure you are right with God before you study. This requires listening to the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. If you've been convicted of something in your life and you've ignored doing something about it - beware. Some have tried to plow through the Bible while living in adultery, or other gross sin, and seem to 'not see' or gloss over the scripture that deals with their very sin. Others have fallen into error because they were opening the Bible to try to find a 'verse' to justify themselves. This has sadly led some down the path to the devastatingly false "God told me" conclusions. I can't tell you how many times in dealing with people over the last twenty years I've heard: "God told me to" or, "God showed me this". While I knew it couldn't have been the God of the Bible that did the telling, the person went on to shipwreck their life via a poor choice in a marriage, a relationship or some other ill-fated idea blamed on God. It's difficult to argue with a person who's told you "God told me to". That's why we, who would use that line of reasoning, must humbly examine our hearts and lives with a fine tooth comb - and ask for the Holy Spirit's assistance while doing so.

A third step to ensure proper Biblical understanding is - be ready to admit you're wrong. Something I've discovered as I've studied the Bible verse by verse, is that some of the views I've held weren't biblical. It wasn't anything deep, dark and hideous, but it was places where my thinking wasn't consistent with God's Word. I realized that I was wrong and had to align my thinking with God's thinking. Sometimes it's wisdom to suspend what you might think on a certain topic until you can do some in depth study in the Word on the topic. It's much easier to say "I'm not sure - I'm studying it out right now", than to speak and later have to retract.

Finally, be sure that the Bible is the first place you turn. Not Christian TV, not a pastor, not the Internet - but the Word of God. As a pastor, I'm intent upon Christians thinking and digging in the Word and not being told what to think. This is accomplished by Christians getting into the Word of Life for themselves and prayerfully studying it out.

Ponder for a moment how much more sermons would "hit you where you live" if you and the preacher were on the same page. This assumes that the preacher is actually and primarily using the Bible in his preaching, and that the listener is studying their Bible regularly. It can be that powerful when we realize that God is speaking to us from His Word - today! God has been revealed to us as a God who desires intimate fellowship with us (1 John 1). As Christians everything we do should be "Father filtered", so our thinking in all areas of life should have as its basis the Word of God.