Dr. John Tolson: "Dusty Bibles Lead to Dirty Lives"
It’s far too easy for Christians to go through the motions of life and become spiritually stuck and apathetic. According to Dr. John Tolson, “because the years go by does not mean you’re making spiritual progress.”
On an episode of Red Glasses Talks, Dr. Tolson continues his series about benefits of obeying the Bible and dives into its vital role in the spiritual maturity of believers.
Because the Word of God brings maturity, Dr. Tolson lays out four key advantages of obeying it in daily life which include:
- Obedience proves our love for the Lord (John 14:15)
- Obedience presents our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2)
“Dusty Bibles always lead to dusty lives,” Tolson said, who gleans an important metaphor about spiritual maturity from Hebrews:
“For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:13-14, ESV)
Just like a baby eventually needs more than milk to continue to grow, Christians need to graduate from basic biblical principles to a deeper moment-by-moment relationship with Jesus that leads to the goal of the Christian life: to become more like Him.
When believers go from “milk to meat,” Dr. Tolson said, “[they] mature by practicing the Word of God.”
Like any good parent, God wants His children to grow up and mature as they allow His Word to transform them one step of obedience at a time.
Even though it’s tempting to alter life to fit into the mold of the world, “becoming a living sacrifice means sacrificing our own desires in order to obey what God wants,” Dr. Tolson said
To learn more about why Dr. Tolson believes “the Bible leads to maturity” and discover the other two benefits of obeying its truth, click the video above.
