Don’t Be Wise in Your Own Sight

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. John 5:39-40

Jesus said these words to the Pharisees. If you are wise in your own eyes, God will be little more than a question mark to you. You won’t feel much desire to pray. And if you study the Bible at all, you will tend to filter what God says through what you already believe. This is what the Pharisees did.

But here is the promise of Jesus: if you will open the Scriptures with a humble heart, God will teach you. Jesus said, “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (John 6:45).

If you will open the Scriptures with a humble heart, you will hear God’s voice, you will learn from Him, and Jesus says that the outcome of this is that the person taught by God will come to Him. Everyone who does this, everyone who is taught by God, comes to faith in Jesus Christ. Don’t be wise in your own sight.

On a scale of 1 (humble) to 10 (prideful), how are you approaching the Bible? Based on your answer, how likely is it that you are hearing God’s voice, being taught by Him, and growing in faith?