The Bible makes a claim about itself that the words written on the pages are not the result of human interpretation or will, “but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet. 1:21). That means that we can know what is on His mind, because He has revealed it to us through this God-breathed message. He has eliminated all the guess- work and communicated His thoughts to us, “so that we know the things freely given to us by God” (1 Cor. 2:12). In other words, the mind of God has been fully declared, explained, and made known.

Some people think that a relationship with God is dependent upon your emotions, how you feel about something. Others will tell you that it’s whatever their parents or grandparents have taught them. And some will stand behind what their preacher believes or teaches from the pulpit. But each of those approaches to religion renders the Bible as irrelevant and unnecessary. You never have to open it up and read it for yourself, because you do what feels right to you. Or you follow your family’s beliefs, thinking they wouldn’t lead you the wrong way. Or surely your preacher has to be right, right?

Jesus said the words that He spoke would judge a man on the last day (John 12:48). That identifies the word of God as the standard for the judgment. Not your feelings. Not your family. Not your church. And if our obedience to those words will ultimately decide our eternal destiny, doesn’t that imply that we ought to take some time to read what they say? What good is it to have access to the mind of God if we continually keep our mind closed to it?

What do you think about that? Actually, the important question is what does God think about it? And if you make a commitment to start reading into His mind and seeing what He thinks, I’ll make a promise to you. You’ll start thinking like God thinks and seeing things the way He sees them. Think about it!