In considerable thinking today among college students and others, so-called truth is based much too often on one’s personal experience and how one feels about it.

As Mark Early wrote in Breakpoint, “Take, for example, the argument for s-e-xual experimentation. It goes like this: ‘In order to make wise choices about s-e-x, you have to experience it.’ This isn’t just a ‘line’ a guy might use with a girl; it’s a false theory of knowledge. It says that personal experience is the only way to know anything, and the test of experience is, of course, how you feel.”²

Some also reason that because they can’t see, experience, or feel God, he therefore doesn’t exist.

In other words I make my experience and how I feel the final voice of authority on what is true and what is false, which of course is a way to justify what I want and choose to believe and do.

Certain drugs are addictive. That is true regardless of what I think or feel about them. If I experiment with these drugs to seek to prove my point, I can no longer think clearly or rationally. Furthermore, is fornication, adultery, abortion, homo-s-e-x-ual behavior, gay marriage or any other actions that God condemns right or wrong based on my experience and feelings? No. These actions are wrong because God’s Word says they are. And God says they are wrong because they are ultimately harmful to those who indulge in them.

To make my experience and feelings the test of truth is to raise myself above God, implying that I know better than he knows. Rather egotistical to put it mildly, and ultimately self-destructive to put it realistically.

God’s Word is the final voice of authority and the standard by which we measure all truths. If a behavior is in harmony with God’s Word, we know that it is right.³ If it is out of harmony with God’s Word, we know that it is wrong and harmful. We also need to remember that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” It is much, much wiser to go God’s way than my own.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the principles for healthy living you have given to us in your Word, the Holy Bible that, if we follow, will lead to eternal life. And that, if we reject and go our own way, will lead to eternal death. Thank you for this warning, and thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 14:12 (NIV).

2. Breakpoint, 8-15-2005, http://www.breakpoint.org/bp-home.

3. See Psalm 19:8.

Do you ever walk into a room full of strangers with the sense that you are the only one who feels insecure? The fact is that others, at least some of them in that room, probably feel the same way, especially if they are also strangers to the group. Feelings of insecurity are part of the human condition because we are all wounded in some way to some degree.

We visited a new church on one occasion where nobody bothered to talk to or welcome us, so I decided to talk to others and welcome them. “It’s good to have you here at church today,” I said and asked, “are you a member?” In fact, just this last Sunday morning after church I saw a man standing alone, so I specifically went to speak to him and help make him feel welcome. He turned out to be a first-time visitor. A little later this same man sought me out to thank me for talking to him, and told me that I was the only person that bothered to stop and speak to him.

So, when in a group of strangers, talk to a person who may be standing alone and ask him/her about him/herself. This will get you out of yourself and in time you will feel much better about yourself. I’m not suggesting that we be phony, but sometimes we just need to acknowledge our fear, but don’t allow it to control us or hold us back from doing the right thing.

If we keep reaching out to others with a sincere motive and do the loving thing, in time this will help us to become more secure ourselves. It may be a challenge at first, but it is what Christ commanded us to do. That is, to love one another. One way to do this is to reach out to a stranger in your midst who is all alone.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in my insecurity help me to reach out to others, and to learn to love and accept myself as you love and accept me, not in any way to boost my own ego, but so I can become a freer channel through whom your love can flow to others. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 13:34 (NIV)

When Jesus spoke to the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, he said to him, “Do you want to be made whole [or made well]?”²

Obviously he did—his was an active faith—because Jesus healed him immediately. The key word here is “want.” To illustrate this point I often ask people in classes I teach how many want to weigh less than they do? There are always hands raised, so I then ask, “Well why don’t you?” Not all, but many of us could weigh much less if we actually wanted to by doing something about it. Many people, who say they want to weigh less, but don’t do anything about it, merely wish to weigh less. And a “wish” is never a “want” until I do something about it.

For years I kept physically fit by hiking in the mountains near where I used to live, and by riding my mountain bike several times a week up and down steep hills where I currently live. A couple of years back I hurt my leg which forced me to stop riding my bike. Consequently, I put on a few extra pounds. So how am I wanting to lose those extra pounds? By going to the local gym three times a week and maintaining a reasonable diet. Do I enjoy going to the gym? Not really, but I know that I need to if I am going to meet my goal to weigh less. Fortunately, I’m already half-way to meeting my goal.

The fact is that Jesus never asked anyone, “Do you wish to be made whole or do you wish to get well?” If we are going to be made whole or made well, we have to genuinely want it by doing what we need to do in order to see it happen. For instance, if I want God to heal me of a sickness that is caused by an unresolved resentment, it is imperative that I forgive the person who I feel has hurt me, in order to clear the way for my healing. And if, in any way, I am living out of harmony with God’s will, I need to clean up my act if I want to be made whole/well.

As today’s Scripture points out, God’s goal for each of us is not just physical well-being but also that we are made “perfect [complete, mature] in Christ Jesus.” The ideal model is to become like Jesus who “grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.”³ That is, he grew intellectually, physically, and relationally (that is, emotionally).

The reality is that only to the degree that we are made whole will our lifestyle, our actions, our behavior, our attitudes, our motives, and our relationships be wholesome. This is available for all who truly want it, and do their part in helping to make it happen.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for your Word that teaches principles for wholesome and healthy living. Please give me a love for learning what your Word teaches, and help me to live in harmony with all its life-principles. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus name, amen.”

1. Colossians 1:28-29 (NKJV).

2. John 5:6 (KJV).

3. Luke 2:52 (NKJV).