I remember the day I started wanting to commit my life to being a follower of Jesus Christ. I was in a rough season of life, and I wanted a fresh start. As a friend of mine walked me through the Gospel and what Jesus did for sinners, I was convinced that this was what I needed to be a part of. I wanted to give Jesus everything I had.
Those early days of my walk were magnificent. I was baptized about a month after I started going to church. A group of men in the church took me in and discipled me. So much of the weight that I had been carrying was lifted off my shoulders. I was a new man, and I was never going back to who I used to be. Well, at least that’s what I thought.
Truth be told, within a month I found myself tempted by and surrendering to many of the sins that I had thought I had been delivered from. I didn’t understand what was happening. I began questioning if I was truly saved by Jesus. I wondered if my baptism was all in vain, because I was still as much of a sinner as I was when I took that holy plunge.
It wasn’t until I grew in my spiritual understanding of faith that I could grasp why, even after surrendering to Christ, I would still make the same knucklehead decisions that Jesus hung on the cross to save me from. Through discipleship, I was able to grow to understand more and more about what it means to be led by the Word. Still today, and until my final breathe, this will be a journey that will continue for me. That is why I am creating this blog.
I believe that my testimony is typical for many believers. Even though we received the greatest gift anyone could ever ask for, we are still human, and we still fall short. Therefore, we need to devote ourselves to being filled with the knowledge of Scripture so we can live out the life that God is calling us to live. This blog will help us to be led by the Word by presenting practical teaching and practicable tasks.
1. The Led by the Word blog offers practical teaching.
Have you ever tried to learn from a pastor and within the first five minutes you realize that their knowledge is far superior to yours? Me too.
This blog is designed to teach Scripture in a way that bridges the literal message of the text into something that we can process today. The goal is not to make you fall in love with my writing style or stories, but to help you understand the Bible better so that you can grow closer to Jesus. I believe Paul gives the perfect example of this type of teaching when he tells the church in Corinth, “I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. I decided to know nothing among you except for Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling (1 Cor. 2:1-3).”[1]
Paul did not seek recognition for the work that he was undertaking. Actually, it was quite the opposite. He knew that the message that he was taking into Corinth was going to be extremely offensive to many of the people that took great pride in themselves. For that reason, Paul knew that if he was going to be successful at the mission in front of him, he would have to solely devote himself to nothing but Christ. That is what this blog is seeking to accomplish.
There is no doubt that some of the topics are going to be offensive to some. Some of the topics are going to seem unfair and possibly outdated. But, if this blog is to know Christ and Christ alone then the topics have to be presented in light of what Scripture intended them to mean, but in a way that we can understand today. My hope is that even when you don’t like what the Bible says, and trust me, even though I believe every word of the Bible, I don’t enjoy all the teachings either, you will understand what it says and how to live it out.
2. The Led by the Word blog offers practicable tasks.
As I have grown in my faith, I have come to love how applicable Scripture is to my life. Just when I start to think that I am doing something that has never been done before, I remember a story of a person who has been through a similar situation. I truly believe that there are not any situations that happen today that the Bible, to some extent, doesn’t cover. If we allow it to, we can echo the words of the Psalmist when he says, “your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”
All to often, we can prioritize reading Scripture for knowledge and completely miss out on trying to figure out how to apply it to our lives. I know I am guilty of this in my own walk. I still catch myself reading Scripture like it’s a history book that I want to memorize all the details to. Completely disregarding that it is also a life manual that God has given us as a gift to know Him and grow closer to Him.
I encourage you to see the characters of the Bible as people like you and me. They had real emotions, felt pain, and often had no idea how things were going to turn out. Even though we see many of them as heroes of the Bible, they were ordinary people who God used to do extraordinary things (if you don’t believe me, go reread the rollercoaster of a life that Abraham lived). I believe God is wanting to do with us today. Therefore, let us all strive to form head knowledge of Scripture, and also set our hearts on learning to apply these truths to our everyday lives.
So, as we take this journey of learning to live led by the Word, I hope that each of these teachings will be practical and practicable. I will warn you now, this journey will not always be comfortable. However, every moment we will be moving closer to who we were created to be and able to accomplish more and more of the works that God has prepared for us.
Who is ready to join me on the journey to learn to live led by the Word?
References [1] All Scripture references are from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) unless otherwise noted.
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