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Bible Topic #4

Three "R's" for the Christian Life

     God has a plan for the life of every person who has believed in Jesus Christ, and in that plan there are three "R's" that will help us grow up spiritually. They are:

     1. Reception, which means we must have a daily intake of God's Word
     2. Retention, which means we must metabolize what is taught by a prepared Pastor Teacher
     3. Recall, which means we must be able to use the Bible Doctrine we have learned so that we can solve our own problems.

     You and I have been put on this earth to glorify the Lord, and we can only do that by fulfilling the plan He has for our lives. God reveals Himself through both the written word and the spoken word. Once the Bible was completed in 90 A.D., God has spoken only through His written word. Whether you are eight or eighty-eight, He has something to say to you. You may live in a very primitive jungle where people worship trees, animals, birds, etc., or you may live in a large city full of churches. No matter where you live, you are constantly being exposed to Gospel information. When a person reaches God-consciousness and expresses a desire to know the Lord, He will provide information during that individual's lifetime on which he may use his free will to make a decision regarding the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross as his substitute.

     1 Peter 2:2 says, "Desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow in salvation." We can only grow spiritually by learning and applying God's Word. We are now living in what the Bible calls the "Church Age." It is a unique 'Mystery Age' in which no Biblical prophecy is being fulfilled. The next event on God's agenda is the resurrection of all Church-Age believers. Theologians call that event "the Rapture of the Church." No one knows when it will take place, because Jesus Christ controls history.

     As believers in this exciting period of time, God the Holy Spirit lives inside of each one of to teach God's Word to us and to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. That was not true in the lives of Old Testament believers. They grew spiritually by putting faith in the promises of God. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews lists some of the great Old Testament saints who became mature by placing their faith in God's Word. and resting in His promises.

     If we want to be taught, we must first be in fellowship with the Lord, and we do that by recognizing and naming our known sins to the Lord. The more we understand, metabolize and apply God's Word, the more we will be able to know when we have committed a sin. One of the verses in the Bible that tells us we must name our sins to God to maintain fellowship with Him is 1 John 1:9 which says, "If we confess (name) our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (unknown sins)." David said in Psalm 32:5, "I acknowledged my sin unto You, and my iniquity have I not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and You forgive the iniquity of my sin."

     As we learn and apply God's Word, it becomes wisdom, and when we have enough Bible Doctrine in our thinking we can solve our own problems and not have to depend upon other people to solve them for us.  God's thoughts become our thoughts, and the production which follows glorifies the Lord.

     If we will not receive, retain and recall God's Word, no one will be able to distinguish us from an unbeliever whose thinking is conformed to the cosmic system controlled by Satan, and our lives will not glorify the Lord.