Ultimate Truths – Mark Appel

December 28, 2016

My brother and I talk about everything and anything, multiple times a week. Whether the topic is sports, church, theology, life, hobbies, or anything else we can think of—you name it, we have probably talked about it.

 

This past week he and I were discussing theology and the subject of predestination came up. Now, I know this is a topic that is heavily debated in the church—it can be divisive. As far as salvation goes, we know that we are saved by faith through grace. We have faith in the person of Jesus Christ; His life, death, and resurrection, and we are saved only by the gift of His grace.

 

Predestination is something that I would say is not an “Ultimate Truth,” meaning, your salvation is not dependent on the understanding of it, or deciding which side of the argument you fall on. There are many Christians who trust Jesus and live in obedience to God but may not have the same view on this subject as I do. And there are a lot of subjects in the Bible that are not “Ultimate Truths” that we can spend our lives debating.

 

Studying Scripture and understanding theology is important, but the trap is that we can study Scripture backward and forward and still not know God. Just like we can know the game of baseball and memorize the stats of our favorite players, we can read a lot of facts about God, but if we don’t have a relationship with Him, then we don’t really know Him. When we come to God’s Word, we shouldn’t come to study it for the sake of knowledge alone, we should study it because we love the God with whom we have a relationship, and want to know Him more.

 

I trust in God because I love Him. I love God because I believe He is who He says He is.

 

“He [Jesus] said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked. ‘Tell me so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You have now seen Him; in fact, He is the one speaking with you.’ Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped Him.’” —John 9:35-38

 

I want to live a practically Christian lifestyle, not a philosophically Christian one. At the end of the day, whatever side of the fence we stand on with regard to any subject where the Bible isn’t perfectly clear, we need to be living in a way that distinguishes us as Christ-followers. This starts with loving God and loving others. If all we talk about are the facts of God and the Scripture that we’ve memorized, but we don’t have love, we are missing the point.

 

“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” —John 5:39-40

 

There is a healthy sense of fear in knowing we serve a God around whom we can’t wrap our minds. His ways are higher than ours. We are in the middle of God’s grand story, and we get to be a part of that story!

 

There is also a sense of great peace knowing that we serve a God who is worth trusting. What He has revealed to us as “Ultimate Truths” through His Word is more than enough for us to put our faith, confidence, and trust in. This is the truth that we know and can rest in.

 

—Mark Appel

 

Mark Appel is a regular contributor to The Increase, providing monthly articles and opinions.

 

View Mark’s Increase Profile here: http://theincreasebaseball.com/author/markappel/

 

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