"If there is one thing that our tense age needs, it is a guidance more than human. Today scientific brilliance and spiritual blindness are a frightening union. In its restless cleverness, the human brain has brought on us a world situation just about beyond the limits of its own competence to control. But the world scene is simply a photograph of the individual enlarged. Either with aching sadness or fear, countless hearts today keep asking, 'Which is the right way?' 'Is there a sure guide?' Our Bible has the answer."
The previous words were written by my greatest life mentor, J. Sidlow Baxter, an Englishman who wrote more than 30 books on the Scriptures with two of them selling more than a million copies each. I felt like an insignificant mouse trying to brag on a magnificent elephant when I spoke at his funeral in 2000. In a few weeks he would have been 97, but he retained his brilliance until the end. He was the greatest Christian and most distinguished person I have ever known when it came to knowing, grasping and applying our true message of spiritual healing ... in the Scripture.
Immediately after His resurrection Jesus approached two of His discouraged disciples as they walked the road to their village. They were the first two men to see Him alive again, but they didn't recognize Him. As they began talking during their trip, He explained to them the Scriptures, and then their eyes were opened. Later, when Jesus left, they confessed their blindness and recognized they had seen the crucified but now living Christ. The key to their revelation ecstasy was "their hearts burned within them as Jesus opened the meaning of the Scriptures!" (Luke 24:13-49). I have known thousands of Jesus disciples since I became a Christian in 1950. They have in common one thing: burning hearts as they experienced spiritual healing by their increased understanding of the Scriptures!
After 90 years of earth living, and 73 years of knowing Christ Jesus personally, I can confidently say my Bible is my supreme gift and never failing guide. I don't simply just read the Scriptures anymore ... I'm hearing the Holy Spirit speak! Yes! For every problem, I've found His promise. For every struggle, I've found His strength. For every hurt, I've found His healing. For every painful end, I've found His new beginning. My dear Sidlow nailed reality in these closing lines:
"Yes, let me learn my heavenly Father's will, and seek His all-wise purpose to fulfill, that, that alone, is life lived at its best, and that alone gives human hearts true rest!"
H.D. McCarty pastored one of Fayetteville's largest churches for 39 years, served as the volunteer chaplain of the Razorbacks for 30 years and is a retired pilot and Air Force chaplain. Email him at hdm@venturesforchrist.com.