Our Sufficient Guide for Faith and Practice

Meditations for the Season of Christmas 

December 31, 2024

Our Sufficient Guide for Faith and Practice

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’”

Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

Lule 4:4,8,12 

Read: Luke 4:1-13

There are two primary obstacles for the Christian seeking to live the life in Christ as their way of life. The first obstacle is our self. What the Apostle Paul calls our flesh, or our fallen nature, is tempted to sin, that is to seek our self-gratification over the will of God in our life.

The other obstacle is the evil one. Jesus tells us the evil one comes to kill, steal and destroy the people of God. Jesus says he is a liar, the father of all lies; the truth is not in him (John 10:10). The liar’s mission is to disrupt and destroy the work of building for the Kingdom of God.

Interestingly, the evil one does not tempt us with overt evil. Jesus was not tempted to kill, steal or destroy people; he was tempted to prove he was God’s Messiah. The people were poor and hungry. After fasting for forty days, wouldn’t it have been a good thing for Jesus to turn the stones into bread and feed himself as well as feed the people? The alternative ways to fulfill his role of Messiah offered by the evil one were essentially shortcuts that avoided suffering or crucifixion for the Messiah.

There were no shortcuts for Jesus, and there are no shortcuts for his followers. The Christian vocation is unique to each person, as we each have our own gifts and graces given to us by God. Developing our Christian vocation takes dedication and hard work, just as a musician must apply these attributes in learning to play a musical instrument.

We all will be tempted to take short cuts which, if taken, will compromise our Christian integrity. However, Jesus has shown us the way to respond to temptation. No dilly dallying, no debate, just immediate responses using the Word of God as our authority. Since the Reformation, Protestant churches have maintained that the Bible is our sufficient guide for faith and practice.

My Takeaway: Certainly, if the scriptures were sufficient for Jesus, so shall they be for his followers.

Sē’lah                                                                                         

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.