How's Your Doctrine?

The other day I was faced with a dilemma. You see a was listening to a message that a good friend was preaching and he made a very bold statement. He said something along the lines of, “You can’t sacrifice to God, you have nothing you can give to God, because everything is already His.”

Sounds pretty good, huh? It kinda gets you pumped up, excited, and feeling all fuzzy inside doesn’t it? I’m ashamed to say that I probably wouldn’t have had a problem with the statement. Except it conflicted with a message I had just preached about how what we sacrifice indicates who or what we worship.

Now, after reading the title of this blog, you may be thinking, “What does all this have to do with doctrine?” You see this is something that has stuck with me for weeks now, and the issue of doctrine is something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to for months now. How often do we settle for warm fuzzy thoughts and comfortable ideas rather than hard, uncompromising, rational Biblical truth?

This past summer I read The Shack. It was a great read, excellently written with a great story and a compelling plot, but, throughout much of it, I kept reading statements that I know contradict scripture.
(On the subject, the book is great. There is a lot you can learn from it. I just encourage you to
read it with a careful consideration for what is good to hold on to and what needs to be
disregarded.)

The thing that I‘ve realized through my study and prayer, is that it is important to hold doctrine in high regard. To know the Word of God and to sort out what truth is according to that word.

2 Peter 2:1-2 talks about false teachers and the people that follow them, saying that they, “will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” As Christians it is important for us to know what truth is so that we will not dishonor the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Teachers, especially, need to be careful that they do not unwittingly become false teachers, leading themselves and their followers into destruction.

I urge everyone, figure out what the Bible says, and what you believe. Submit your beliefs to the Word of God and to spiritual authority. So that you will not be mislead and so that you may honor God with your mind and with your life.