TRENDING

The trend to follow the crowd is strong. We find a peer group that goes along with some of our ideas, then instead of thinking for ourselves and reasoning things out to conclusions, we go along with the crowd. After all, all of the people can't be wrong can they? Just do what every other person is doing. Yet what’s popular today won’t be popular tomorrow. Basing your life on popular culture is like trying to build a house or building on a foundation that constantly moves and shifts. It will crack and crumble before your lifespan ends.

In this same vein of reasoning, is to do something because that's what Grandpa did, Grandma, or whoever in your family. That does make a little sense - tradition becomes what it is because it works, yet there is no reasoning to go beyond that. The confidence is in society tradition or family tradition as something that is always right. And to some degree, it may be. But when we make tradition, just because it is tradition – law, then we have overstepped the bounds God has given us as Jesus taught, we start putting more importance on the tradition than we do the word of God (Mk.7:8).

Another vanity in this realm of thought is that something is right because of intellectualism. I have thought it out, I have reasoned, therefore I know. Lot of “I's” in there aren't there? “There is a way that appears to be right,but in the end it leads to death,” states Prov.16:23. Even the genius falters at times. Intellect isn't a surety that it is right. Some of the smartest people that have been, have denied God.

Then there are those that base what they do on what “feels” right. Yet, feelings lie all the time! We lie to ourselves more than anyone else. Look at 2 Thess.2 and you will see how gullible we truly are in this area. Solomon, regarded as the man of wisdom in the bible, was led astray by his own gullibility to feelings. Read Ecclesiastes and you will see how much of a quagmire feelings can become, and for some it is a path of no return. If some are fortunate, they will heed Solomon's advice in the end of the book, when he tells us “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Eccl.12:13,14).”

The Psalmist echoed the sentiment a long time ago, when he stated, “Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.(Psa.104,105).” God's word and only God's word is the only sure thing that there is to base life upon.

Culture changes, traditions grow stale, reason can be faulty, and emotions lie. Yet God’s Word never changes. We may not always understand it, or always like it. It won’t always be politically correct, yet, it’s the only thing stable enough to bring peace to our chaotic lives. You can’t become what God wants you to be on a faulty foundation. Perhaps it is time to open the one book that can help you find peace.

Jim