How Can We Know?

  God gave us the Bible so we can know how to be saved. Many think the events in their life, not the Scriptures, tell them if they are right with God.

  It happened, so God must have made it happen. This is hasty thinking. Some things happen that are against God’s will. The devil works in the world just as God does. When Satan tormented Job, he assumed that God was punishing him. Job was a good man, but he was wrong about this. There are also things that happen because of “time and chance” (Ecc. 9:11). Not every tragedy is punishment from God. Jesus said the tower in Siloam did not fall on eighteen people because they were sinners getting what they deserved (Luke 13:4). Sometimes we deserve what happens to us. Sometimes we do not. This applies to good things as well as bad things that come our way.

  It was a success, so God must have been behind it. A false prophet starts a church. Within a few years thousands attend the services. Money pours into the collection plates. The church hires numerous staff workers and expands its outreach with a school, a television program, and an international missions program. “The Lord has really blessed us,” they exclaim. “We can’t take credit for all this. Only the hand of God could do this.” All the while they are teaching a false gospel. They have deceived themselves into thinking that worldly success is a sign of the favor of God. But the Bible warns against this reasoning. Numbers do not prove a church is right (Matt. 7:13-14). Money does not make a church more spiritual (Rev. 2:8-10). That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination to God (Luke 16:15).

  I have it, so God must want me to have it. A young woman meets a man she really likes. They understand each other so well. They have a great deal in common. “It just seems like we were meant to be together,” she says. But there is a problem: the man she is in love with is married to someone else. She has no right to be together with him.  Instead of admitting she is wrong, she tries to justify herself. “I just don’t see how this could be wrong. I believe God wants me to be happy.” Sadly, this story is repeated in the lives of many young men and women. What is wrong with this behavior? God says it is wrong (Heb. 13:4; Matt. 19:9).

  Many think everything that happens in life is all about them. Everything that takes place is a sign of God’s acceptance. No matter what occurs, they see it as God’s stamp of approval of their lives.  These people think they are entitled to whatever pleases them, and they foolishly tell themselves that what pleases them pleases God. How deceived they are! God did not create man to give him all his desires and to fulfill his every dream. He created man to seek and serve the Lord through a life of self-denial  (Acts 17:27; Matt. 16:24). Let us pray as Jesus did, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

  Kerry