[Darris McNeely] We live in an age of skepticism, and we live in an age that is lacking in truth. Let’s face it – many people do believe in God, and to believe in God, that in itself is a major step of faith. There are many people who are atheists, and don’t. To believe in God is one big step, but let’s take it a bit further here. Do we then, who believe in God, do we believe completely, totally in God’s word, the Holy Bible, to be God’s instruction to us? In other words, do we believe all of the Bible? Because that can be something that we find challenging as well, because there are parts of the Bible that one might not agree with, one might find to be a bit challenging in their understanding.

And that brings us to point number four in our series on understanding the Bible, and that is, as we seek to understand, we have got to accept the inspiration of all the Bible. Not just part of it, not just some, but of all the Bible. All scripture, both the Old and the New Testament, the wisdom literature of Proverbs or Psalms, as well as the prophetic books such as Revelation or Daniel. And certainly both the Old and the New, and understand how they fit. We can’t just discard the Old Testament because we like the New Testament better, thinking there’s a better God there in Jesus, and it’s more loving. No, we have to take all of the Bible because that’s the way God wrote the Bible through His servants and through His people.

Christ made a comment in John chapter 6. He said, “The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). And we have to look at both – the complete Bible, Old and New Testament, as spiritual words and teaching coming from God that are divinely inspired. In 2 Peter 1:21, Peter writes that “the holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” And so, regardless of who it was or when it was written, they were moved by God’s Spirit, which makes it a book that is breathed by God through His inspiration. And that’s what we have to understand as we begin to understand the Bible, and not cherry-pick it, not pick and choose what we are more comfortable with when it comes to the Bible. If there’s a difficult part, historically or in some other way, we have to dig a little deeper to understand that. But if it’s also something that perhaps corrects us or challenges our long-held views about the Bible, we have to be willing to be taught and accept that as well, and accept the entire Bible. We cannot afford skepticism. We cannot afford to take an approach to the Word of God that somehow diminishes what it is, as we believe God and take Him at His word.

Taking this approach to accept all the inspiration of the Scripture as something for us to be taught and learn by is going to open up far greater understanding of God’s word and enrich our life beyond any imagination that we could have.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.