My oldest grandchild's name is Kariss. When Kariss spent a night with me and her grandmother each week, it was my joyful task to take her out for doughnuts the next morning, although I went under strict orders not to buy any of those sugary angels for myself, since I didn't need the extra calories.
When we arrived at the doughnut shop, I would help Kariss decide what kind of doughnuts she wanted, taking care to recommend several kinds that looked good to me. I did this knowing full well that Kariss would never be able to eat the additional doughnuts.
And without fail, she would look at me and say, "Poppy, I can't eat all of this. Would you finish it for me?" With a smile on my face and my taste buds salivating, I happily agreed to finish her doughnut. After all, we wanted to teach our grandchildren not to waste food! My ingenious plan allowed me to eat doughnuts without actually purchasing them for myself.
The problem with my eating those doughnuts was that although they tasted good, they didn't provide me with any long-term nutritional value. The same is true today for Christians who are trading substance for succulence in their neglect of God's Word. We have become satisfied with the non-nutritious substitutes of religion, human philosophy, and other man-made ideologies at the expense of the powerful, transforming truth of Scripture.
For too many people, the Bible has become like the Queen of England. It may hold a high position, but it has no real authority. The Bible may be a great showpiece under their arms, or on their desks or coffee tables, but the truth is that it occupies a very insignificant and unproductive place in their lives.
How else can we explain the lack of power, victory, peace, testimony, and impact of God's people today despite an unprecedented flood of Christian music, Bible studies, books, programs, and conferences? There is a massive disconnect between the power of God's inerrant Word and the powerlessness of God's people.
This disconnect exists because Christians have become so secularized in our worldview that the Bible has been reduced to nothing more than a great work of spiritual inspiration instead of the authoritative Word of God. Increasingly, professing Christians are responding to opinion polls, popular human philosophies, concepts, and gimmicks to address the needs in their lives, demonstrating a lack of confidence in the sufficiency and authority of Scripture.
More and more people are turning to Bible "supplements" to fix the emotional, relational, psychological, financial, and spiritual issues they face. The Bible's influence has also diminished because many pastors have stopped preaching it in its power and authority. Most preaching makes reference to the Bible, but often it is so mixed with human wisdom and opinions that it loses its divine authority and uniqueness. Thus, like a doughnut, the preaching may go down sweet because it is coated in sugar, but it has little real benefit.
But there is hope, because God's Word has lost none of its power or ability to feed us on pure spiritual truth. We must understand this unique Book so we can experience God's powerful reality in our lives, both personally and collectively. It is my unwavering conviction that there are two answers to every question: God's answer, and everybody else's answer -- and everybody else is wrong. God has spoken clearly, and He has done so only through the Bible.
This article is excerpted from The Transforming Word: Discovering the Power and Provision of the Bible by Dr. Tony Evans. Published with permission from Moody Publishers, Chicago.