In Acts 17:10-11, Luke documents,
The brothers [in Thessalonica] immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Francis Chan is the author of the recent bestseller, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. Chan writes and preaches from a Reformed Evangelical perspective. While there are a number of points over which Chan and I would disagree (major tenets of Calvinism being toward the top of the list), I was intrigued and encouraged by this video excerpt from the Crazy Love DVD Series.
“Think about it. If all you had was the Bible, would you come to the conclusion after reading this, that to become a Christian, you would pray a prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart?”
How much of what I believe do I believe simply because it was fed to me by someone else? Yes, I ought always to be extremely thankful for those people who have helped me grow in my knowledge of God’s will, just as the Christians in Berea were thankful for Paul. But am I, as the Bereans were, consistently and objectively going back to the Book to see whether the things I am being told are so?
As Christians, let’s humbly remember that we ought not to expect others to do what we ourselves are unwilling to do or uninterested in doing. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1).
This is great! I am going to re-post this on my blog with a link back over here. Is that cool with you?
Absolutely, Jonathan. Thanks for reading.