Do you believe God’s account of creation found in Genesis 1? If you are a follower of Christ and you deny creation then you are denying the authority of God and His Word.
Over the last few years, I have written a few devotional Bible studies, but Anchored To Truth is my favorite. When writing Anchored To Truth, I reflected on 30 years of calling myself a Christian and not knowing the God of the Bible. I thought about all the lies I once believed and how Scripture challenged those lies.
The Bible teaches us the foundational truths of our faith and how they are essential for spiritual growth. In Anchored To Truth I have highlighted eight doctrinal truths found in Scripture. They are creation, design, sin, the law, Jesus, the Bible, justification, and sanctification. I encourage you to anchor yourself to these foundational truths. Also, recognize how they are at odds with the perceptions and lifestyles shaped by the world around us.
The Authority of Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16 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.
In order to submit to these foundational truths, we must view Scripture rightly as the Word of God. Scripture is without error and complete, and we should treat it as such.
Deuteronomy 4:2 states and Revelation 22:18 repeats, You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it.
God is warning us in these verses because this is exactly what we are tempted to do. God’s Word is what God has spoken. We don’t get to pick and choose what parts of it we believe. We don’t get to add anything to it.
Refusing to believe its first chapter greatly affects how you view the rest of the Bible. And yet so many of us are willing to submit to the world’s explanation of creation rather than God’s account of creation. We don’t even question it, but we fail to realize that by doing so we are denying the authority of Scripture.
The Authority of God
Since I was a child, I have loved visiting the Blue Ridge Mountains. I can’t help but stand at the top of one of those beautiful mountains, look down into the valley below, and ask, “How could there not be a Creator God?”
My unbelieving friends would say because science can explain it all. I would argue that science still points to its Creator and falls short of explaining it all. However, many choose to deny the story of creation because the world has labeled it infantile and ignorant. Meanwhile we accept theories that are highly unlikely and still don’t explain everything.
I believe we reject the story of creation for two reasons. The first is we do not want to be at odds with the rest of the world. The second is that we do not want to admit that there is a God who created us, who has authority over everything, and who we must answer to.
The Bible begins with creation because it is the beginning of our story. It gives us perspective for the rest of Scripture. In Genesis 1 we are told the reality that we are a created being that has a Creator. To deny creation is to deny the authority of God.
The Lies
I once traded the truth of creation found in Genesis 1 for the world’s definition of creation. I believed that I was created by chance with no purpose. I believed there was a God, but He wasn’t actively involved in my life nor did He care what I did. Therefore, I held all authority over my life. As long as I wasn’t hurting anyone, it didn’t matter what I did?
One of my favorite poems growing up was Robert Frost’s, The Road Not Taken. I learned in college that like many of the poets during his time, Frost wrote about a world with no God. The message of this poem was that we make decisions with nothing guiding us. This was very much my life before knowing God. I just made decisions based on feelings and preferences. Then like the man in the poem I would try to convince myself that I had made the best decision with absolutely nothing to base it on.
I had no foundation of right and wrong. My views were shaped by the way I was raised and my personal experiences. I wasn’t sure if absolute truth even existed and believed at least some truth was subjective. These were the lies I believed when I denied the authority of God and His Word. For those 30 years, I struggled with anxiety, anger, and hopelessness. But thank God, He didn’t leave me there.
Anchored To Truth
It is important for us to stand firm on the foundations of our faith. As the world we live in continues to challenge the words of Scripture, we must hold on to these foundational beliefs in order to discern truth.
[S]o that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Ephesians 4:14
I pray through this study of God’s Word that the Holy Spirit will reveal your great need to always stay anchored to Him and the truth found in His Word. Download Lesson 1 of Anchored To Truth Now!