When I was in high school, we had a dear friend of mine who came to serve as an intern for our youth group. One of his favorite things to do during class was to play “prove it.” This could last an entire class period, but mostly was done if a lesson finished early. This “game” was played for one cause. To increase our working knowledge of God’s Word. This has since become one of my personal favorites in the class that I teach as well.

The teacher will ask a question such as “Is baptism essential for salvation?” and when the class responds by saying “yes” the teacher then tells them to prove it. You see many of us, have our core beliefs firmly planted within our hearts, however, we have no idea why they are there. We are simply living an inherited faith, not a faith of our own. The point of this little game is just to get people thinking about what does God’s Word say on the subject? Not just, “What have I been taught?” Too many of us have our minds firmly set on what we believe, but we have nothing to give to those who ask us questions other than just  saying “It’s in the Bible” my prayer is that all of us will open the book on a DAILY basis and  be able to fulfill the command found in  1 peter 3:15- “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ”

I would like to challenge each one of us with two thoughts;

#1. If we do not know WHERE in the Bible our beliefs are found, how are we going to teach others?

#2. You can memorize the Bible, and still not know it’s author.

You see, it is vitally important, and commanded, for us to know what we believe, and why we believe it. However, I’m afraid that many times, we may comfort ourselves with the fact that we have john 3:16 and psalm 23 memorized, but if someone was to look at our relationship with the Father, it is almost non-existent .

Your relationship with God is not just the most important thing, it is the only thing.  If my relationship with God is right, then my relationship with my wife will be right. If my relationship with God is right, I will be the parent that my children need. If we get our relationship with the father right, EVERYTHING else will find its proper place. But let me be clear, you cannot have a relationship with the God of the Bible, if you do not first have a relationship with the Bible!

2 Cor 13:5-“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”