Can I Trust Myself?

By Author: Jerry O'Donnell
Total Articles: 1
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Allow us to be a little more specific with this question. Can I trust myself in spiritual matters?

To answer with YES is to declare oneself as being perfect in knowledge and wisdom, yet we are told in Proverbs 9:9 Give [instruction] to a wise [man], and he will be yet wiser: teach a just [man], and he will increase in learning.

We will always need to study, to receive instruction, to be taught. Also, to answer the question with YES is to say that one either makes no mistakes or is willfully disobeying God because all of us have sinned -- sometimes in ignorance (which is not sin) while other times out of selfishness.

What does the Bible say about trusting our own decisions? Jeremiah 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? We can actually deceive ourselves.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25). It may look and feel right, but it may not be right.

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God ...
... which he hath testified of his Son (1 John 5:9). Trust in His Word over anything a human thinks.

And then God spells it out plainly in Isaiah 55:8. For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. This is one reason why Jesus spoke the following and is recorded not only once but three times. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23).

To be one of God's servants, sheep, and disciples, we must be willing to submit to instruction. And the best source of instruction is found in His Word, the Bible. All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

About the Author Lay evangelist trying to get people to read the Bible to know why they go to church instead of meeting for just the social aspect. www.tstl.net