“My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.”
John 7:16
Consider the above words of Christ. How different that is from the
people today who so readily defend their opinions and view points.
Jesus himself, the Son of God, simply said “My doctrine is not
mine.” In other words, this isn’t just an opinion, it isn’t
something I have conjured up, it goes beyond my experience. This
doctrine I teach you is God’s, our heavenly Father‘s.
If anyone had the right to defend his belief system, it was Jesus.
He could have gone about saying, “Don’t you know who I am? I am the
‘The Christ.’ Listen to ME.” Rather, He quietly went about teaching
and boldly declaring a doctrine that was not His. He espoused the
doctrine and truth while freely acknowledging the author and founder
- God.
There is a great lesson for us to learn in this generation. While
many ministers and churches uphold and defend their theology, the
true saints of God quietly acknowledge whose doctrine they live by.
Truth is not defined by what is written in a book that someone wrote
yesterday or a 120 years ago. Truth--the right doctrine--is that
which was given to us by Jesus Christ and His disciples in the
divinely inspired Word of God. It is God’s doctrine. There are too
many derivative doctrines and philosophies that are abounding in our
time. It is this, in part, that has caused so much religious
confusion and spiritual trouble.
God doesn’t need us to defend truth. He needs us to live it and show
people by it’s effects that it is truly from God. Truth is bigger
than you and me. Let us allow it to work in our lives, but never be
guilty of claiming authorship of it. If we base our doctrine and
theology on our own opinions and on those who have gone before, we
can be guilty of undermining the foundation that Christ laid.
There is never any shame for standing on what God has given in His
word. What a blessing and assurance there is to base our life not on
ourselves and past history, but on the doctrine of God. Then we too
can say when questioned and asked, “My doctrine is not mine, but is
God’s.”
