We have an amazing God, who sent His amazing Son and then gave us an amazing book! Don’t ever take those truths for granted; cherish them and let them motivate you every day. I have something else that I hope you will truly consider, take to heart and keep with you for the rest of your life.
Lock this in your heart: The Bible is our only authority and has everything we need! There are all sorts of ideas and philosophies out there about what this life is all about and what our purpose is on this earth, but there is only one source of truth that really matters and to which we need to turn and accept. Knowing that every word in the Bible is inspired of God, notice how He connects the chain of authority.
Truth: Jesus Christ has all authority! Those who heard Jesus recognized that “He taught them as one having authority” (Matt. 7:29), and the reason for that is what He revealed Himself before He left earth, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). Jesus Christ is to be heard in all things (cf. Matt. 17:5; Acts 3:22-23).
Truth: All of Jesus Christ’s authority is in His Word! While God spoke through prophets in the Old Testament, “God…has…spoken to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:1-2). And the Word of Christ is the ultimate authority, for it is the Word given directly by God (“whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak,” John 12:50) and it is the Word that “will judge [us] in the last day” (John 12:48).
Truth: All of Jesus Christ’s authority on earth today resides in the inspired words of the Bible! Before Jesus left earth, He told His apostles that the Holy Spirit would “guide [them] into all truth” (John 16:13; 14:25-26), which He did by moving them to pen the words of the New Testament. Therefore, the very authority of Christ is inherent today within the inspired words of the Bible!
Truth: The Bible is all we need! We have a perfect God! And, when it came time for Him to complete His revelation to mankind in the Bible, He gave us a perfect book! Just as God is lacking in nothing, His Word is lacking in nothing! The reader can be made “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17), for in them God “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). We do not need to go anywhere else to know what God wants us to do; He gave all of His authoritative truth to us in one book!
Truth: We must respond to Christ’s authoritative Word with respect and obedience! Only those who do the will of God can be pleasing to Him and go to heaven (Matt. 7:21-27), and the only place to find what is pleasing Him is in His Word (Col. 3:17). Let’s respect and obey what He says!