Acts 17:10-11NIV
[10] As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Lately, one of my favorite things to do is debate different topics with ChatGPT. I’ll ask it a question, it’ll respond, and we’ll go back and forth. One of the main reasons I genuinely enjoy doing this is because it helps me remember things I have learned, as well as helping me better express and defend my own beliefs. Peter tells us to always have a defense for our faith and why we believe what we do.
The more I do this, the more I realize that many traditional beliefs that I no longer hold to, aren’t rooted in the early Church but are more recently developed than I was led to believe when I was taught these beliefs. When we take peoples word for things, instead of searching and researching for ourselves, we become blind followers. Christ never calls us to be blind followers, yes, we live by faith not by sight, but we aren’t blind followers. Jesus said,
18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?
Mark 8:18
We follow Christ with faith, meaning we trust God regardless of how difficult, impossible, hard it may seem. But when it comes to our faith. Our beliefs. What we build our lives on, we are to test those beliefs/teachings against Scripture. We aren’t to just blindly follow. How many of us today can say without a shadow of a doubt that our beliefs are all rooted in the Bible and did not come much later? I’d say, very few of us. Why? Because when a preacher or teacher we like says something we like, we agree with it and hold it as law instead of testing it against thr Scriptures.
So, what should we do? Seek the Truth by putting every belief and idea to the test. We should be in the Word, studying it, meditating on it daily. It should be written on our hearts influencing every aspect of our lives. That’s the goal each of us should have set for ourselves. It should the goal we are each actively pursuing and chasing.
Dear LORD, please forgive me for each time I have believed man without checking Your Word first. Please open my eyes to any false beliefs I have claimed as Truth, no matter how insignificant they may seem. Uproot every lie, deceit, or misunderstanding I have clung to. Open my eyes to Your Truth. Allow Your Word to speak to me, guide me, and direct my path. Help me to build my faith on You and not on the words of man. Teach me to follow You with all that is within me, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.