Men, err on the side of shoving God’s Word in people’s faces, especially your own.
We’ve replaced God’s Word with man’s words about God’s Word so heavily in our “recommendations” and “academia” that, often, we’d rather ingest man’s words about God’s Word. If we believe that God’s Word is sufficient, as we all ought to do, we should recommend things that bolster and encourage a return to God’s Word as the primary consumption point for truth and hearing from God instead of the other way around. Nothing else even comes close as a supplement. But thinking so, I have a feeling, is a reality we all need to repent of as a group.
To be sure, men, I’m saying this to myself first and foremost.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB1995
God’s Word is sufficient. Since that’s true, we ought to treat it so. It is not the history of everything and was never meant to be. But, to be clear, it does explain everything. It is sufficient. It explains who created everything; everything we need to know about who we are, how we got here, and why we’re here; everything about why the world was the way it was, is the way it is, and is the way it will be, and how it’s all going to get fixed. There is no fundamental stone left unturned that God’s Word does not address sufficiently. And yet, when we are met with the opportunity to understand one of the many fundamental truths of everything, we turn to man’s words about and over God’s Word to figure it out.
In some cases, we turn to C.S. Lewis, a creep until the end who very seldomly used scripture in his writing and often used flawed, human reasoning to come to base conclusions spelled out perfectly understandably by God Himself in His Word. In other cases, we fanboy over Lord of the Rings to teach us about the struggle that is the Christian walk. Never mind your arguments about your and Tolkien’s disdain for allegory. The Lord of the Rings is an allegory, full stop. But there are other use cases. Some of you love John Piper’s words more than God’s, even though “Desiring God” is more sensual than biblical. It’s a weird read, brother. It’s plain icky. And, not too long ago, I read more Ravi Zacharias than the Bible, so I’m not singling any fandom out. But I understand a question my Dad used to ask my sisters and me when we were younger, consumed with pop culture and movies and such. He would ask us to tell him about a Bible character or a Bible story as in-depth as we’d talk about a movie, song, musician, or actor. We got the point immediately, and I never had a good answer back then, nor did I try to correct my waywardness in that area until much later, and it didn't happen overnight. I may still know a lot about pop culture and such, but it’s more because of my ministry and the leadership of my family now than my pseudo-edification. In other words, I am tuned into culture to engage with it, not tuned into culture disengaged from God’s Word. I am wholly engaged in God’s Word, and the more I engage with it, the more I want to talk about Him and it. Additionally, the more I engage with God’s Word, the more I abhor culture and want to retreat from it. But I can’t retreat because the more I engage with God’s Word, the more I want to live out Jesus’ prayer for those who love Him.
“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
John 17:13-21 NASB1995
Again, err on the side of shoving the Bible in people’s faces, especially your own. Jesus wants that. He prayed for that. After all, He is the Word incarnate. And He certainly didn’t shy away from shoving Himself in our faces.
And I am eternally grateful for that.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”
Psalms 19:7-11 NASB1995
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