CHAPTER 2: WHY THE BIBLE? +A FORMULA FOR DYNAMIC LIVING
"The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
-----Psalms 19:7-10
It may surprise some of you to know that God actually desires our success in life, He says in the book of Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD; Plans to prosper you and NOT to harm you, Plans to give you hope and a future." But are there certain principles which we can derive from the Bible itself which will lead to a successful life?
Some of my readers may wonder why I quote from the Bible. My answer is that since the Bible itself claims to be inspired by God (IITim.3:16), it is my studied opinion that the Bible is God‘s guidebook to us and that following its principals will inevitably lead to our success, whether in business or in life. Most of the concepts that modern motivational thinkers have come up with, have been ultimately derived from, or are reflections or re-statements of, Biblical precepts, whether they know it or not. The truth is the truth whoever states it, and God‘s precepts will work whether followed by believer or pagan. But be that as it may, God doesn‘t promise success in life from studying the words of motivational thinkers. He does promise success, however from meditating on His word, the Bible. In Joshua 1:8, he says: ”This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do all that is written in it, for then shall you make your way prosperous and then shall you have good success.” And in Psalm 1, David speaks of the blessedness of the person whose ”delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he meditate day and night.” The word ”law” in these passages does not just refer to the ten commandments, but to all of God‘s precepts and principles given in His word. David goes on to say of the person who meditates in the word that “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season…and whatsoever he does shall prosper.” Those are pretty powerful promises, but how many of us fail to realize them because we fail to meditate on God‘s word? How many believers don‘t even take time each day to read the Bible?
I‘m assuming that if you‘ve read this far, you at least have a basic belief in God. I realize that this is not true of everyone, but as someone said, “Whether or not you believe in God, He believes in you.” Let‘s face it: someone or something had to cause everything we see to come into existence. I don‘t really want to spend a lot of time arguing for God‘s existence, except to say, as someone else has said, “If there is a watch, there has to be a watchmaker somewhere.”
But David took it a step further in Psalm 100:2. Here he uses the verb “to know,” implying a strong positive realization. He says: ”Know that the LORD He is God: It is he that has made us, and not we ourselves.” So, then, if we know that He made us, then we should also realize that He best understands how we function. And is it not reasonable that he would have left us a set of instructions for this thing called life? When you buy any kind of electronic product, a VCR, say or stereo, it usually comes with a manual. But how often do we, in our haste to enjoy the product, try to set it up and run it without checking the manual? We think it seems so simple. Just plug this here and push that button. And then we wonder why it doesn‘t work. Well,-- time to check the manual! It‘s the same with life. If your life is messed up, perhaps it‘s time to check the manual.
Here‘s a formula I came across in some old church notes:
Formula For Dynamic Living: DL=(GGE+GPS) X PSI.
In other words, Dynamic living=
(God Given Equipment [potential]
+God‘s Principles of Success)
--- X (multiplied by) Proper Self Image
Thus, you can see the important place self- image plays.
Mary-Ellen Gresham’s article, “Wasting Your Substance” is a perfect example of the application of Biblical principles to successful living. Citing the Biblical parable of the prodigal son, she concludes: ”In the same way we know that when we cease our rebellions against God and his rules, we will find that every law is a love guide for our own good. The Bible is and always has been the best handbook on how not to be a fool, how not to waste our substance. We find our true worth as God‘s only son, Jesus, directs us back toward home, ‘where we can have the hope of becoming the best that we can be.”
In his article, ”The Potential For Greatness”, Sean Nelson points out that “Our own past and shortcomings cloud the honest judgment of ourselves that, if clear, would show our real and unlimited (and, I added, God- given) potential.” The words ”God-given” are mine, added because I firmly believe that it is God who made us and He made us for success.
Our minds are like computers with 15 Billion cells. Anything we set our mind to do, we can do. But we must follow the principles which He, the creator has set down in the manual, His Word, the Bible. And some of those principles involve keeping a positive self-image. Personally, I don‘t see how we can separate the concept of self-image from God‘s success principles because we must start to see ourselves as He sees us. But I see what they mean by the formula: If we follow all the rest of God‘s principles with a positive self-image, the result will be dynamic living. So, the first thing we should consider would be our self-image. We have the God Given Equipment and once we have the right self-image, we can begin to rightly apply God‘s principles. In turn, as we do so, we‘ll find that applying some of God‘s principles will result in our having a better self-image.
An example of someone with a poor self-image would be Pontius Pilate, as I portray him in my novel Of Such Is The Kingdom. His wife had to always pump him up to get him to feel good about himself.
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QUOTABLE QUOTES:
1) "We know what we are, but we know not what we may be."
---William Shakespeare
2) "Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow."
---David Everett
3) “The potential for greatness lives within each of us”
---Wilma Rudolph
4) “You have so much incredible potential on the inside. God has put gifts and talents in you that you probably don't know anything about.”
- --Joel Osteen
5) “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world”
---Lucille Ball
5) “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”
---Theodore Roosevelt
6) “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”
---Dwight L. Moody
7) “The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to do three things. He came to have my past forgiven, you get a purpose for living and a home in Heaven.”
---Rick Warren
7) ”Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path”.
---David (Psalm 119:105)
9) ”This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
---God to Joshua (Joshua 1:8)
10) “…But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law does he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the river of water…And whatsoever he does shall prosper.”
---David (Psalm 1:2-3)