Don't Mistake Methods for Means

The Bible is an amazing book because it is the living Word of God.  It is also amazing how many books have been spawned through biblical wisdom.  Though thousands of commentaries and millions of books (and blogs such as this!) have been penned inspired by the Bible, not one of them excels the divine inspiration of the original.  Books written by godly men and women can be beneficial and influential in sparking ideas and bringing clarity to our minds.  Though valuable resources, they should never replace the Bible.

It seems like today people are interested in methods.  People want to know what "works" or has been found successful and seek to emulate the process to achieve a desirable result.  They read book after book in a quest to discover a machine where raw materials can be combined in a prescribed order to receive what we want:  three elders, laying on of hands, 10 mils of oil applied just right - and divine miraculous healing is the result!  This misses the point.  When it comes to things of God, the Means is always more important than the methods.  The Holy Spirit is the Means, and we are to obey His methods.  He is our source of life and power.

We can know we have salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ through faith.  It is God's Word which provides us this assurance, not anything we have done.  Titus 3:5 reads, "...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit..."  In the same way we are to appropriate all the promises of scripture:  faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.  God's Word was written so we might believe it and walk accordingly.  Make sure that you never neglect the study of the Bible itself.  It is not enough to read books by well-known preachers.  Listening to sermons and pod-casts can never replace the necessity of breaking apart the actual Word taught and applied to you personally by the Holy Spirit Himself.

Have you listened to the Holy Spirit today?  Jesus says in John 16:13, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."  He is the Means by which we can hear from Christ and glorify God.  How cool is that?