God is in charge. He is the source of transformation and he doesn’t hide this from us. The Bible is the way God gives us the plan to renovate our souls. This begins and ends with the fact that we don’t trust in our own wisdom; we trust in God’s.

 

Either the Bible is the Word of God for us or it isn’t. If it isn’t, then we are left with two choices to guide the transformation of our lives.

 

1. Our own understanding- We are the source of what will transform our lives.

 

2. Understanding not based on God’s Word- Learning based on what someone else thinks who doesn’t use a biblical worldview.

 

Here are the challenges of either of these viewpoints.

 

1. If I am the source of transformation in my life, then I know there is great risk, because I have been wrong before and I can’t imagine that I am not going to be wrong again.

 

2. No matter how brilliant the thinking may be, if it is not filtered through the Scripture, it can’t always be trusted. It may be an identical principle, as Jesus is the source of all truth. We can expect to find good, solid teaching in other religions and worldviews. Yet, how do we know if the teaching veers away from God’s Word if we don’t know the Bible?

 

Yes, God gives people a conscience to guide themselves whether they know the Bible or not. Yet, we can ignore our consciences so easily. Human history is filled with the disasters of people doing what they know is wrong, and at best convincing themselves that it is not wrong after all, and at worst, relishing the evil behavior. For those who trust God’s Word, neither is an option.

 

The transformation of the soul occurs through those who love the Word, read it in a careful, straightforward manner, and live it day to day. This is not usually a huge leap in life change, but rather a slow, quiet exposure to the Word of Life.

 

Read Ephesians, and then think about why reading the Bible is a key part of transformation.