Our culture faces a crisis of authority. Institutions that used to carry a great deal of authority now suffer a widespread loss of trust. The news media. Government officials. Police officers. Scientists. Church leaders.
Our distrust of certain authority figures might be well-founded. But as skepticism deepens, it leads people to one of two harmful ways. They end up standing for nothing or falling for anything.
Some stand for nothing. They become skeptical of everyone in traditional positions of authority. They don’t commit to anything, they become suspicious of any leader’s motives, and they refuse to join any group because they don’t want to be disappointed.
Some fall for anything. For these folks, the crisis of authority hasn’t led to noncommitment but to passionate commitment to questionable things. They no longer believe what comes from traditional sources of authority, but they’re quick to believe what’s posted on YouTube, or Reddit threads, or internet message boards. They fall for conspiracy theories and sketchy claims.
Don’t let our culture’s crisis of authority make you turn away from the one authority you can count on. We need to reengage with this holy habit: Treasure the Bible as your God-given guide.
Now, at first you might think this is part of the problem and not the solution. After all, biblical phrases and biblical imagery are used widely by those who spread questionable claims and odd conspiracies.
But such people aren’t treasuring the Bible. They’re exploiting it. They’re using it to sanctify a belief they already decided was true and a direction they already decided to take.
That’s not going to happen if you treasure the Bible as your God-given guide. We’re told in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
God-breathed.
Useful for training in righteousness.
When we believe these two wonderful things about our Bible, we’ll treasure it again.
Let’s talk more about how to reengage with the Bible this Sunday. Join me at 10am on campus or online.
--Tom
Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.