Only one Book

“There are lots of books that can change your thinking; there is only one Book that can change your nature – and your eternal destiny.” – John MacArthur. Praise God for books that can change one’s thinking! Were it not for such books I don’t know where I would be today, mentally and physically. Prior to discovering and embracing them in my late thirties, reading of any kind was not high on the list of my priorities unless it had to do with music. Small was my world and small was my thinking; that’s the reality I discovered after reading a couple of books written for the purposes of changing one’s thinking.

Something else I discovered. People who see that you have changed, or are in the process of changing your thinking don’t like that very much; it threatens them. It shows them, small is their world and small is their thinking. Yes it does. I don’t say that with any malice or self-righteousness, but this blog is all about reality – and that’s the reality! Somebody reads this and says, “Well that’s the end of you! I’m not reading you anymore!” That’s okay. God bless you and thank you for what you have read. May God use it to draw you closer to Him at some stage. “How to win friends and influence people” was a blessing for me to read at the time I read it, but today my thinking has changed. Being nice to people is good, but not at the expense of being real.

That’s one of the downsides of reading books that can change your thinking – getting real. People can read them for a lifetime and yet still live in unreality. They can have wonderful material and financial success, they can win friends and influence all who come in contact with them and yet inwardly they are a disaster. They know it and all too often those closest to them know it. One man who helped changed my thinking was Emerson. One of his essays was a game-changer for me as was,“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an action and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” In the negative I could see this is what I had been doing; so now to turn that around.

I discovered one can change their thinking, their actions and their habits, but not necessarily does this equate with a change of character; certainly not where ambition, self-gain and money is concerned. Multitudes have changed the first three but have ignored to address the all-important fourth and as such, they reaped jail or an early grave. Somewhere along the way with my reading I came across: “Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.” I didn’t know God then, but I knew He knew me and I knew that He was far from impressed with my character. What I did not know, it was God Himself who put those books into my hand, in preparation for character change using only one Book – the Bible.

God will use other books to draw us to Himself, but He will use only one Book to reveal Himself and to make us useful for Himself. Anyone serious about searching for God must come to terms with this otherwise they search in vain. Outside of Bible Scriptures God has nothing to say to us. Now, embracing and holding fast to that reality will make more enemies for you by far, than it will friends. Your reputation will be shot big time among your friends and relatives and even certainly among many professing to be Christians. If they didn’t like you when they witnessed you change your thinking, they will despise you when they witness you changing your character. And you will change your character for sure. That’s the promise to all in submission to only one Book. 

Biblical words for ‘character’ are nature and heart. Both refer to our innermost being. When one is in submission to God’s only one Book made up of both the Old and New Testaments, that means he or she has encountered the Lord Jesus Christ. Better than that, they have surrendered their life to Him. By lived experience they knew a truth of, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked… long before they read it in Jeremiah 17:9. But when they heard that Jesus came to deliver them from such wickedness and wash them from it with His shed blood, declaring them, “Not guilty,” they dropped all and ran to Him quick smart! They became a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things become new 2 Corinthians 5:17.

A new character, a new nature, a new heart, call it what you will, only one Book contains the promise and the power to deliver on that. You can hold up any holy book so called, before a group of people, you can quote from it and get no reactions from them. Do the same with the Bible and there will be reactions galore – coughing, spluttering, squirming, sighing, sniggering, even insults. Try it some time. Hop on a train or a tram, open it and start reading quietly. Maybe there’ll be no insults, given that most will be on their best behavior, but some of the other reactions will show up. “You and your silly old outdated book,” they say. No, no, just the same old Book it’s always been – with the same old power to convict godless souls.

That’s what only one Book is doing, you see. Because it is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, because it is piercing even to the divisions of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and because it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Hebrews 4:12, we should expect nothing less than such reactions. This is simply God going to work on them. Some will turn to Him at His appointed time; others will turn away from Him. That doesn’t mean they’ll turn away from religion, for most religious people react in like manner too. But it does mean they’ll turn away from reality! Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, least we die.” Exodus 20:19. That’s religion!

There is only one Book the “elite” of the world have in their sights to rid the world of. “Full of racism, discrimination, homophobia and hate speech,” they say, devoid of logic for any offering of an intelligent discussion on the Bible. They know it’s not full of that, but desperately wicked hearts go to any lengths to appease guilt from wickedness gnawing away inside them. Think of that reality when you next hear them ranting on with their unenlightened silliness. Even if they are successful (they won’t be) in getting rid of it, it won’t give them any rest. God will continue to haunt them with His word like before, only He will do so with increased measures. “No rest for the wicked,” people say. Well that’s right; no rest for the wicked!

The man grew up observing his father submitted to and living according to only one Book. Not so, the man. He did everything he could do to avoid it. But worse than that, he mocked his father and he mocked the Book. When he did that, he mocked God. Only one Book says, Honor your Father……….., that it may be well with you……….. Ephesians 6:2-3. As he got older and sought to make his own way in the world, he continued to mock the Book and mock God. Eventually things became most unwell for the man. He asked his father if he would pray for him, “Because I cannot. I want to believe, but I can’t.” Only one Book says, God is not mocked……… Galatians 6:7. Did the man receive grace and mercy from God? I don’t know.

There comes a time when God ceases from calling people to Himself. In only one Book we read, They will call upon me and I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Why not? They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord Proverbs 1:28-29. When that happens it’s impossible for you to change your eternal destiny. Some might say this refers only to wisdom. Well, not only is Christ the power of God, He is also the wisdom of God 1 Corinthians 1:24. Reject Jesus Christ and you forfeit all rights to wisdom. Can you see why men and women in Governments, big business and banking etc. are making a mess of things all over the world? Cleverness and shrewdness are no match for wisdom!

So what about your eternal destiny? You can overlook lots of books that can change your thinking, but there’s one Book you cannot overlook – only one Book. This Book, if taken seriously, will change your thinking, your nature and your eternal destiny all in a matter of moments. It’s different than any other book too in that you’re not required to start reading it at the opening pages. It won’t make much sense if you start there. Start with Jesus in the Gospels. Repent of your sins before Him and ask for forgiveness and cleansing. Do that, and your eternal destiny is settled. Get water baptized as soon as you can, then allow Jesus to expand your world and your thinking for the rest of your days. I have come that they may have life…… John 10:10. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 6:23.