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Commentary on "Good Thinking"

MARTIN L. CAREY

 

Day 4: Tuesday, February 1, 2011 - Wholesome Thinking

 

Overview

This lesson reminds us that we need to read the Word of God every day to develop wholesome thinking. It will help us, by the Holy Spirit’s power, to deal with worry, fear, and temptation, and to help us against the many unspiritual distractions in the world.

Prayer also keeps the mind out of trouble, since during prayer, we are less likely to think bad thoughts with their resulting sinful actions. God wants us to have wholesome thoughts, the lesson says, because they “are good for us, both physically and mentally.” Through Bible reading, prayer, and making Spirit-led choices, we will help our minds stay on things that uplift ourselves and others.

 

Observations

It is a sad fact that many Christians don’t read their Bibles often and don’t see its urgent necessity to their spiritual life. The Lesson rightly points out that there are many benefits of regular Bible reading and meditation. However, there are many other books that are appear worthwhile that may claim the same benefits. We need to be clear why the Word of God is more than just wholesome, it has power like no other book. Let’s look at just three reasons to trust the Bible:

The Bible is true and reliable. Jesus prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them in the truth, you word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). David said, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether” (Ps. 19:9). This means that the actual words of the Bible are eternal, reliable, and are not just the thoughts of the writers, as SDA’s have been taught. Otherwise, its meanings would be vague and subject to private interpretation, and would change from person to person. We don’t call the Bible “The Thoughts of God.” It contains His own Words. Peter said,

“…no prophecy of scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” II Peter 1:20, 21

The scriptures testify of Jesus Christ. The religious leaders thought that through searching the scriptures daily, they would find eternal life. Jesus said, “it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39). In the Old Testament, we find prophecies of how Jesus was to be lifted up to suffer for our sins (Isaiah 53), and how He is the hope of Israel. In the New Testament scriptures were can see Jesus clearly portrayed, and how He fulfills all the promises to Israel, and how we are “grafted in” to that tree. Salvation history shows us His magnificence and His beauty, that He is worth trashing everything we ever valued, just to know Him (Phil. 3:8).

The scriptures bring us the Gospel. Nowhere else will we find a credible, eyewitness account of His life, death, and resurrection. And nowhere else can we learn how to be saved by faith alone in Christ alone, through grace alone, for His glory alone. Every other book of promises contains some kind of program that depends on human effort and merit. God humbles Himself to be a servant and suffer the death of a criminal to save a wretched sinner like me. We don’t earn any of it. No other book comes close to that kind of hope.

So, yes, read, memorize, and meditate on scripture, because there we find those exceeding precious promises, and there we can see the One who guarantees them.

 

Summary

  1. The Bible is more than a “wholesome” book that brings healthy benefits. It is powerful and trustworthy tool for salvation.
  2. The Bible is true and reliable because it came from His mouth, it is eternal, and it contains His promises by which He can never lie.
  3. The Bible is not merely a collection of thoughts written by inspired men. Its words are produced as God spoke, and are not the product of human interpretation or will.
  4. The Bible glorifies Christ; He is the most precious thing existing, all else is rubbish in comparison.
  5. The Bible gives us the Gospel, by which God saves us without our merit and for His glory.

 

GO TO DAY 5

 

Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised February 1, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

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