They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Acts 17: 11b

 

The people who were the subject of this statement were gathering in the city of Berea to listen to Paul teaching the truth of Jesus, and this attitude of open inquisitiveness was something that Paul found appealing and refreshing. He had been faced with the challenge of speaking with other groups who were neither open to hear what he had to say nor were they willing to give the Spirit of God an opportunity to work on their understanding. They were set in their thinking, determined to keep it pure, and unwilling to consider the possibility that they might not know everything that there was to know about God.

 

God wants us to be strong in what we believe and to be grounded in our faith; yet, He also wants us to understand that we do not know everything that there is to know about Him and regarding His desire for the way that people should live and behave. Therefore, we listen to teachers who share the thoughts that God has given to them, and we read books that have been written that discuss various aspects of the Christian life, but the final determinate of what is God’s truth and what is God’s message for each of us should come through our own time spent in reading His word and in prayerfully meditating on what His Spirit is saying to us.

 

Not only is there nothing wrong with checking what others are saying and believing against what God’s word says about those things, the Lord tells us that He wants us to do this. He also gives us His spirit to guide us through life and to enlighten us regarding His will for us and to lead us to His truth. We should be like the Bereans, checking out what God says to each of us through His word, prayerfully considering what we believe and how we act on those beliefs, and being open to the enlightenment of the Spirit in all matters of daily life.