To Whom Shall You Go?

I don’t know why…I have the urge to write today.  I have no topic in mind, but something within seems to want to get out, so I thought I’d just start writing and see where this goes.

I’m reading what would be called a study guide, but in practice could be read like a book.  It covers sixty nine verses of the New Testament in the book of Acts.  It’s the story of Stephen, widely believed in Christian circles to be the first martyr of the newly-established church.

Now, I’ve read this story a hundred times or more.  Those sixty nine verses consist primarily of a sermon given by Stephen at his “trial” in front of the Jewish leaders.  It’s a compelling story, but one from which I’ve never taken away very much in terms of modern application.  This author, John MacArthur Jr., takes a story that probably many of us feel like doesn’t have much modern application, and draws from it many applications, lessons, and truths, all relevant to life in the twenty-first century.

Christian scripture continues to amaze me.  I continually find life lessons, application, and truth in words I have been familiar with for most of my life.  I continue to find passages with meaning I have never thought of, or even heard of before.  And I continue to find a thread of consistency, perfection, and relevance that in my view could not have come about by chance or by good luck.

You may disagree.  That’s OK.  But I have yet to find any glaring inconsistency or any obvious falsehood, collusion, or deception that would cast doubt on the veracity of the Christian writings as found in the canon of scripture.  I know that I look at things through my “world view” of things, and I know that a perfectly unbiased opinion is not possible for me (or anyone else in the human race, for that matter).  However, I have always considered myself to have a measure of logical and objective reasoning, and do my best to apply it to those words I find within the canon.

Do I have absolute, infallible, unshakable proof of the reality that Jehovah God inspired the writing of the canon?  No.  Can I look at the evidence and from it make an educated determination sufficient to hang my eternal hat upon?  Yes.  I have examined other religions.  I have examined no religion at all.  And after it is all said and done, I have nowhere else to go; nobody else to go to; no place else to rest.  As John records Simon Peter’s response to Jesus’ question as to whether the disciples will also desert him as have many of the crowd, “To whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”

I know this hasn’t been a blog to remember…but I feel better now, and hopefully can finish the MacArthur book today or tomorrow.  Meanwhile, whatever your persuasion, take another look at the God of the Bible.  Put away as much of your bias as you can, open your eyes, take a deep breath, and allow the words to speak to you.  After all, “To whom shall you go?”