Gaps and holes

We talked a few weeks ago about why it's important to study all of God's Word...to read it all for yourself.

One of the primary reasons we talked about this danger was because failing to do so can leave "gaps" and "holes" in your understanding of God's Word.  The natural tendency when you don't have information is to try to fill those "gaps" and "holes" with your own logic or wishes or from your sense of justice or mercy...and most of the time, our personal thoughts are not God's thoughts.

I ran across this verse that made me think about this in my reading today...in Jude 1

¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”
¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

What the Bible points out here is the dangers of following merely your own natural instincts.  It's hard to remember that sin corrupts even our best logic and helps us completely rationalize the most illogical thing we can do...not following God...that's what sin did to us.  It made it seem like the "smart" and "logical" thing to do was something other than God's plan.  That's why the Word is so important and why we should strive to know it as well as we can.  Our earthly intelligence...at its best, will always have a part of it that will try to pull us away from God, because, through sin, it is flawed.  We need God...we need His Word. 

So take advantage of the gift that God gave you....and get rid of the "gaps" and "holes".