Matthew 4:4

But he answered, "It is written, "' Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
ESV Matthew 4:4

Some things never change. And in the case of the Bible, God’s word, I sure am glad. Last week, I had a friend correct me on something I wrote about this topic. I wrote that “My personal conviction is that the Bible teaches absolute truth.” My friend correctly pointed out to me that the Bible teaches absolute truth regardless of my personal convictions. And he was right, so let me correct the error: The Bible speaks absolute truth.

We can come up with many examples of truth from our daily experiences, but they all fall short of being “absolute.” Let’s take deadlines for instance. This newspaper imposes deadlines on me. Regardless of whether it suites me, Jason puts this paper together and sends it to press on a schedule; with or without my article for the week! Zig Ziglar has a unique way of dealing with this type of truth. He says that he made a deal with the airlines long ago that they could just go ahead and leave without him if he were not at the gate at departure time. But these are truths that may or may not come to pass; deadlines change, flight schedules change, etc. But the word of God never changes; it is absolute and enduring.

Too many times we like to base “truth” on our circumstances and/or personal convictions. I call it the “this is truth for me” mentality. But when we do this, truth becomes relative. And when truth is relative, we can manufacture and twist it to fit our particular circumstance or need of the moment. Of course, the results of this kind of thinking can be chaotic; leading everyone to do what is right based on his or her opinion. That’s one reason why I find great comfort in the fact that the Bible speaks absolute truth that endures forever. I like what Isaiah had to say: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” ESV Isaiah 40:8

I did a quick phrase search in the Bible and found that the phrase “it is written” appears over eighty times in Scripture. In the vast majority of those times, the phrase is pointing back to earlier writings (that became books of the Bible) as being true. And some pretty important and trustworthy people used the phrase to make that point exactly.

For instance, when Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness after forty days of fasting, he used the phrase “it is written” four different times to refer to absolute truths that we find in the Bible. Interestingly, God’s word was the only defense that Jesus used against Satan himself!

Now I ask you, if God’s word is a reliable and sufficient defense against the Devil himself, how much more so can we rely on it in our daily lives? Rest in the truth of the Bible this week; regardless of what comes your way, you will find it to be a reliable and sufficient guide for daily living.

Ken worships at Tharptown Baptist Church where he teaches an adult Sunday School class. Comments on his column may be sent to kenaskew@charter.net.