"IF THESE THINGS WERE SO!"

Acts 18:10-11                     (ESV)
"10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures DAILY to see "IF THESE THINGS WERE SO"!"



How many times have I heard a preacher supposedly read scripture and accepted it as truth instead of going home and verifying what was said with scripture?   The Berean Believers were being taught by the Apostle Paul and Silas, not your average evangelists!  Yet the Berean Believers studied the Scriptures "daily" to see "IF THESE THINGS WERE SO", not so they could show how smart they were, but so they could discern the TRUTH when they heard it!

Many people desire to prove their view of a matter is the right way to look at something.  But when you use the TRUTH of HOLY SCRIPTURES as your measuring stick, you have a perspective that "this world" isn't accustomed to.  When you measure against anything short of the HOLY SCRIPTURES the results become so fluid and continuously changing that they can become confusing.  Usually that happens when someone neglects to examine the Scriptures daily?  They have no baseline for their life actions!

Unless a life has been CHANGED, not only by examining the Scriptures, but having the Scriptures applied to a life, a lasting and permanent change cannot be experienced.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 says "All Scripture is breathed out by GOD and profitable for TEACHING, for REPROOF, for CORRECTION, and for TRAINING in RIGHTEOUSNESS, that the man of GOD may be complete, equipped for every good work."   It is difficult to expose yourself to Scriptures daily and not have your life reflect a degree of change.  For some, the change in their life is resisted and never will be realized.  For others, the change is life altering and cannot be hidden!    

So how can we know the change in our life is the change needed to assure us eternal life?  The way we can be most assured that CHRIST lives in us is to examine the Scriptures daily and see "IF THESE THINGS WERE SO"!  HEAVENLY FATHER, forgive me for not examining the Scriptures enough during my lifetime.  Cause me not only to examine the Scriptures daily, but to LIVE the message daily, so that others can have an example of "IF THESE THINGS ARE SO"!!!