Be Like a Berean

In this day and age where we can access information instantly we are seeing how there is also a huge amount of ‘misinformation’. Even news broadcasters like BBC are doing daily features on tackling false information. Busting myths surrounding especially the Coronavirus.

I’ve had people asking me about what the bible says regarding current situations, and especially because there seems to be so much conflicting information that is circulating.

We don’t want to be critical and closed minded, but at the same time we want to be rightly informed.

I am reminded of a passage in the book of Acts that recalls how Paul and Silas visited a town called Berea after being chased out of Thessalonica.

Acts 17:10-12

Acts 17:10–12 NKJV

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

Paul and Silas when they head into Berea go first of all to preach in the Jewish community that were present in the town and the writer of Acts holds these people up in particularly high esteem for two reasons.

Firstly, they recieved what was preached to them with great eagerness. I love how this shows something of their hearts because they were clearly hungry for God, and they were so keen to hear anything that God was saying to them.

Their eagerness shows they were clearly a humble fellowship, it was not as though they took the attitude of knowing better than everyone else, when Paul and Silas arrived they were only too keen to hear what God was saying through them. And they must have been a gracious bunch because what Paul was teaching them was potentially turning their world upside down but I think they must have had such a love for for God that it overflowed into their relationships.

But secondly we are told that having recieved the word with eagerness they searched the scriptures daily to be sure that what they were hearing was true.

In doing this they are highly commended by Luke the writer of Acts.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ was a very different way of thinking and would have turned many of the long held customs on their heads.

Think about how you would have felt if these strangers suddenly turn up in your town and making all these claims that the Son of God has come, that He died for the sins of mankind but was ressurected. That all worship and lifestyle had to now be completely different.

I think I would have held a certain amount of caution.

So many people right now are feeling like they just don’t know what to believe but in we are told:

Psalm 119:105 NKJV

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

Paul and Silas pointed the way, but the Holy Spirit spoke through the scriptures to bring about faith in Jesus.

Think about how you would have felt if these strangers suddenly turn up in your town and making all these claims that the Son of God has come, that He died for the sins of mankind but was ressurected. That all worship and lifestyle had to now be completely different.

I think I would have held a certain amount of caution.

The Bereans, knew that the scripture is indeed ‘A lamp to our feet, and the light to our path’, they knew that the bible (as they had it) would clear up any uncertainty and bring clarity into the situation.

Subsequently this small fellowship has now become almost a byword in the Christian faith down the ages for a ‘good and dilligent believer’.

So many people at the moment are feeling as if the world has been turned upside down. So now more than ever it is important that we get out our torch to throw some light on situations.

Many of us are in a situation where we a bit more time on our hands due to the lockdown, think about maybe setting up some new habits in the form of bible reading.

Perhaps start a new daily bible reading plan.

Maybe try doing a study, if there is a subject you’ve meaning to read up on for a while but have not got round to it. Make the most of the opportunity now.

Perhaps there is a book in the bible that you have struggled in understanding in the past, make some time now to get a handle on it.

Or perhaps a Character study, look at the life of someone like Paul, David, Daniel or others and get to know what they were like.

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

And as you sit down with your bible, pray that God would open your understanding of it and you will be amazed at how encouraged you will be.

One of the best ways that we can be built up and strengthed at this time is to get into the bible.

Psalms 119:

Psalm 119:18 NKJV

Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

As we make time for the Word of God in this season. I am sure that our whole outlook on circumstances will change as our faith grows through the word.