Examine it yourself
The Bereans
When Paul preached in Berea, Luke pays the listeners a striking compliment. These, he says, were more noble than the Thessalonians, because they received the word with all eagerness and then examined the Scriptures daily to see whether what Paul said was true. Notice the balance: eager to receive, yet unwilling to swallow it whole. They listened hungrily and checked carefully.
This is held up as nobility, not rebellion. The Bereans did not take even the apostle Paul's word as the final authority; they went back to the Scriptures themselves to test it. And far from being offended, Luke commends them for it. A faith worth having is one that has been examined, weighed, and found true by the believer's own searching, not merely inherited or accepted on someone else's say-so.
There is freedom in this for every soul, but especially for those wired to question and probe. You are not required to outsource your convictions to a teacher, a tradition, or a trusted voice. You are invited — commended, even — to bring what you are taught back to the Scriptures and test it for yourself, to pray open my eyes, that I may see, and to own your faith through honest examination rather than secondhand acceptance.
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.”
— Luke, of the Bereans — Acts 17:11 (WEB)
Examine what you are taught against Scripture for yourself — owning your faith through honest searching rather than holding it secondhand.
“Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.”
A faith held entirely secondhand can feel perfectly secure — until someone persuasive pushes against it, and it turns out no one ever tested whether it would hold. The interior work is to strike the Bereans' balance: eager to receive, yet unwilling to swallow teaching whole — taking what you are told back to the Scriptures, asking God to open your eyes, until what you believe is owned by your own searching rather than borrowed on another's say-so.
This week, take one belief you hold mostly on someone else's authority and examine it yourself: search the Scriptures on it, ask God to open your eyes, and come to own it through honest study rather than secondhand acceptance.
An unexamined faith suits the spirit of the age perfectly: brittle enough to topple at the first clever objection, and easily shamed into thinking honest questions are the opposite of belief. But a conviction tested against Scripture and found true stands when borrowed certainties fall — the believer who has searched it knows not only what is true but why.
Many believers hold their convictions entirely secondhand — accepted from a respected teacher, absorbed from a tradition, never personally examined or tested against Scripture itself. Such a faith can be sincere, but it is brittle; it has never been weighed by the believer, and so it can be toppled by the first compelling voice that contradicts it. The Bereans model a sturdier way.
To examine the Scriptures for yourself is not arrogance or distrust; Luke calls it noble. It is the difference between a borrowed faith and an owned one, between knowing what you were told and knowing why it is true. This is freeing especially for the questioning soul, so often made to feel that probing is the opposite of belief. Bring what you are taught back to the Word, ask God to open your eyes, and test it. Have you examined what you believe, or only inherited it?
- Have I examined what I believe, or only inherited it?
- Is my faith owned, or held secondhand on someone's say-so?
- What conviction should I bring back to the Scriptures and test?
Lord, much of what I believe I have only inherited, never examined. Make me noble like the Bereans — eager to receive your word and diligent to test it. Open my eyes to see wondrous things in your law, and let me own my faith through honest searching. Amen.