Honorary Berean – Acts 17:11

Wake Up Call

Through the years, I’ve often heard the maxim: “God helps those who help themselves.” It is usually being said when one person disapproves of how passive another person is being over a problem, particularly if that person says they are trusting God to work it out. I found out that most people who quote it actually think it is in the Bible. It isn’t.

What else isn’t in the Bible that passes for truth? How does your own belief system match up with God’s Word? Do you just assume that since you have heard a thing (even in church) all your life, it must be there?

I think we should follow the example of some pretty smart cookies in the book of Acts. When Paul visited Berea and preached to the Jews in the synagogue that Jesus was the Messiah they listened closely. But they didn’t just accept it or reject it immediately. Instead, “they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Good advice for us also. Pass your own belief system through the filter of God’s Word. Check your pet doctrine and find out if it lines up. Be willing to change your mind when scripture doesn’t support your stand.

If you do that you can call yourself an honorary Berean because you are “a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

 

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