[Darris McNeely] You ever hear the phrase, “Money is the root of all evil”? How about, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”? Here’s another phrase: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” You know, people say these things and many times people think they’re quoting the Bible. But you know, you’re not. None of these phrases, and a lot of other phrases, that people will use in everyday speech are not found in the Bible. There’s a lot of sayings like that. There’s also a lot of religious beliefs and traditions and ideas and beliefs that people hold that are not found in the Bible.

On Beyond Today, we talk about Christmas and its pagan roots and how God has not taught us to do that, how it’s not the birthday of Christ. Easter, other beliefs that people have, and traditions in various religions – they’re not found in the Bible. There’s a lot that we need to understand about the Bible.  And as we’ve begun this series on BT Dailys about how to understand the Bible, here’s point number two, key number two, that is important for us to understand. And it’s this: keep an open mind as you begin to read through, familiarize yourself and study the scriptures. Also be willing to admit that you might be wrong about a cherished belief, an idea, perception perhaps that you have about the Bible, and hold that to the side as you begin to read through it. And be able to understand that you might be corrected and that you could be wrong. And if, as you read through the scriptures you find that you discover something that contradicts what you believe or have thought about the Bible – as I said, keep an open mind, but you’re going to also run up against the question of, what are you going to do about it?

What are you going to do about discovering something that God says to do that you haven’t been doing? And if God convicts your heart, that you should do it, you have a choice to make. It’s a fascinating discovery and journey that you do as you begin to go through the Bible. Would you change? Well, if you would, as you begin to read the scriptures, let me tell you, you would be far ahead of many other people who read the Bible and just put it aside then and say, “Oh, it’s a nice book, it’s a nice thought, nice piece of literature,” but go on with their life, and are not convicted and moved by it. But if you admit that you may be wrong, if you keep that open mind and then begin to change, you will be taking a step far greater than you could ever imagine, and that will put you ahead.

There’s a scripture, and an example, in the Bible that I think is a byword for us. We’ve talked about it on Beyond Today before, of a group of people who searched the scriptures and kept the Bible in their mind in terms of what they understood. It’s in Acts chapter 17, as the apostle Paul was visiting with a group of people in a city called Berea.  And as he came to this group of people, he found, it says, that “they were more open-minded” than another group back up the road in Thessalonica and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. He goes on to say that “they searched the scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.” Acts 17:11.

Searching the scriptures daily, keeping an open mind, proving whether or not what anyone says about the Bible, the scriptures, is true – it’s a hallmark of a Berean. And it can be a saying or a hallmark for you and for I as we read the Bible, seek God’s understanding, and seek to prove what it is that we believe and what is there and what might be commonly understood or misunderstood in today’s world. It’s a key to understanding the Bible – keep an open mind.

That’s BT Daily. Join us next time.