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Way 24: We always tell the truth and do not practice deceitfulness of any kind.
Memory Verse:
Who is the man who loves life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Psalm 34: 12-13
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” ~C.S. Lewis
Can you believe we’ve reached the end of our study on the 24 Family Ways? I hope this series has been an encouragement to you!
Gathering my closest local friends for a time to study the word and discuss different issues has been one of the pleasures of my life for many years. Meeting weekly over tea and coffee and snacks and sharing, and then spending 2 hours in the Word, deeply studying what He has left for us to know and understand, has helped me grow and challenged my faith. I want to grow in truth, knowledge, and wisdom until I see Jesus face to face.
Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with your heart, (the center of our emotions, dreams, and all that we value), your mind, (thinking, developing convictions, understanding truth, walking in wisdom), and all your strength”-- (with all of our power, energy, strength, devotion.)
Our Bible study this week was from a number of passages about God's word, wisdom, the counsel of men, and Jesus as the Word and as the Word incarnate.
Christianity is not just a work to be done--
but it is the truth through which we may come to see all of life as it really is--
it is the grid through which we will view all of life's issues.
When we walk as women who have been stewards of our brains--women who think well and clearly, we will then be teachers and leaders of truth and conviction.
Even more, Jesus was and is a real, in-the-flesh person who embodied truth, life, love compassion, and righteousness. Coming to Him, recognizing Him as God in human flesh who was tempted, tired, hungry, and lonely, and watching and pondering through scripture how He lived and responded to life will help us grow closer to Him.
Yet, I have talked to countless women who all say the same thing: "I don't meet many women who know how to think Biblically or who really walk in their personal convictions of God's truth and wisdom being the foundation of their lives. I haven't been able to find a mentor whose life is worth following when I look around me. That is why I love this Bible study group--we push each other to think well and to live by our convictions developed in His light."
Some time ago, I had over 600 comments on a post from women saying they needed a mentor--someone to lead them in truth and wisdom. And yet, most cannot even find one person who is ahead of them and reaching out to them to teach them how to walk with Christ.
No matter what else you are doing, you cannot please God and become closer with Him and understand His ways--so that they will be a light to your path--if you are not studying His word, reading wise people’s words, and thinking true biblical thoughts.
So many women and men I see in this generation want to rely on someone else to tell them what to do--and the thing is, you can almost find any book or authority to give you permission to do whatever you want to do--
But what does God require of you?
How does God want you to live your life? What lies of men does He want you to avoid because you have learned how to think biblically because you are a seasoned student of His word?
Each of us must take responsibility for our minds, because that is an integral part of what Jesus said was the essence of the commandments--to love the Lord our God with all of our mind.
We cannot teach our children to tell the truth, to understand the nuance of God’s heart for truth, to be those who are honest about life if we are not growing in front of them and embodying to them what truth lived out looks like.
And this is one of the best gifts I could give to our children--not to trust in the words of men, not to follow the crowd--whichever crowd they are surrounded by, --but to fill their minds with truth, to wrestle mentally with what is true, to measure life by His wisdom and insight and as C.S. Lewis says, "by it, (the truth, wisdom, insight, commandments, stories) I see everything else in its light.
So, today, make a plan for your mind--choose a course of Bible study, and plan a time every day to do it.
Find books and authors who have truly walked with God and can lead you to think clearly, (C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and many others)
Ask at least one friend to meet with you and to study and discuss together God's word.
Learning to think clearly and Biblically, in order to be able to fight the formulas and ways of other men takes practice and investment of time---and it is the one way all children need to grow--to learn to think well, to learn to see the fallacies, false doctrine and rules that are man made and not in scripture--it requires thinking and being a steward of the word.
They need to see you doing it and be learning from you for them to learn how to be excellent in these skills, but oh how the world longs for purveyors of truth who know how to think.
