Bruce Collins, Evangelist

1 Samuel 3:19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

Samuel seemed to think that every Word that the Lord gave him was precious and important. Because the people of Israel saw his reverence for the Word of God, they recognized that he was a prophet of God. I believe that reverence for the whole Word of God is still the mark of those who truly love the Lord because they have trusted in the Living Word, that is, Christ, through the written Word, that is, the Bible.

Today I hear people tell me that parts of the Bible are not very important. One of my friends said I spent too much time on the need to be born again because it was only found in John chapter 3. He was wrong. The new birth is in John 1:13, John 3, all the way through 1st John, the idea is found in James 1:18 and Peter explains in in 1 Peter 1:23. But even if John 3 were the only place where the Lord had said that the new birth was a must, then wouldn’t the new birth be a must? I think it would.

Have you ever noticed that when you get a letter from someone who is important to you, you tend to read it and re-read it. You might even post it on the refrigerator. If the person is not too important too you, you may just skim the letter. I believe that our attitude toward the Word of God tells us something about how important the Lord is to us.

However, I realize that we need to understand how to interpret the Bible in order to really understand what the Lord is saying to us. We need to understand that the old testament was written to Jews. It is illustrative for us today. The instructions were to an earthly people with earthly promises and an earthly land. The new testament was written to a spiritual people with spiritual promises and a spiritual land. Of course, there are promises and predictions made about the Jewish nation in the new testament. But the new testament is for a new people composed of both Jews and non-Jews who have come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Christ and have trusted Him to put away their sins.

I let the new testament explain the old and not the other way around. I try to read the Bible in its context. The context of the verse, the context of the book the verse is found in and the context of the Bible are all important when interpreting a passage. I consider the epistles (letters) in the new testament to be written by men that had understanding as to how God thought. These letters are the apostles doctrine (Acts 2:42) and are the key to Bible interpretation. Also, if the plain sense makes sense I seek no other sense. I personally will not let any interpretation of the Bible contradict the stand alone truth of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

I love the Word of God. It contains the promise that God loves me. It gives me the assurance of eternal life. Everything that the Lord said while here on earth as well as what He has said through those that He inspired to write is important to me. I may not be known as a prophet of God like Samuel was but I hope I am known as one who “lets none of His words fall to the ground.”

Bruce Collins