A PEEK UNDER LIFE'S HOOD
Principles from God's Word
by Ivan Maddox
Atlanta, GA


The Bible is a multi-dimensional book. It is meant to be read and applied in many different ways.

It is a book of comfort and encouragement.

It is a manual on how to pray, and what to pray for.

It is our guide to the spirit realm, allowing us to see and understand what cannot be seen with the natural eye.

It is our road map to the Kingdom of God, complete with instructions on how to store up riches for yourself there rather than here.

It is a tutorial on how to love.

It is a training course in the wisdom that is from above.

It is a curriculum for developing godly character.


One dimension of this marvelous book that is often ignored is this: the Bible is a technical manual for life. It explains to us in great detail how God designed life to work. It is as if God had pulled open the hood that covers life, and given us a look underneath, pointing out to us where the wires are, what's connected to what, which switch does what. If you move this lever, that happens; while if you press that button over there, this is what happens.

The Bible is designed to take a lot of the mystery out of life -- a lot, but not all! -- by letting us see the reasons behind a lot of what is going on in our own lives, and in the world around us.

The Bible explains life to us in what we call "principles." Principles are statements in God's Word that do not necessarily deal with what's right and what's wrong, but rather with what the results will be of particular courses of action.

A good example of a biblical principle is found in Luke 16:10.

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest in much." (NIV)

This verse speaks volumes about faithfulness, or trustworthiness.
1. It tells you how to tell if you can trust someone else. Years ago, my father told me that he had developed a habit of always saying "yes" the first time someone wanted to borrow something from him. Almost always it was something small. Then he watched to see whether or not they returned it. For the price of something small, he was able to tell who he could and couldn't trust when it came to lending money to people.

God's Word says the same thing about trusting people in general: the way people act with little things is the way they will act with big things. If you find you can trust them with the small stuff, you don't have to worry about whether you can trust them with the big stuff.

2. It tells you how to become a trustworthy person yourself: watch the small stuff. If you can train yourself to be trustworthy in the little things in life, congratulations: you made it! If you are trustworthy in the little things, you will be trustworthy in the big things.

3. It tells you how God judges people on faithfulness, or trustworthiness. If He sees you cutting corners in the little things, don't be surprised if He doesn't trust you with His big things! If you want to prepare yourself to be used in a mighty way by God, practice being faithful in the things that "don't really matter." He watches those!

4. It tells you how you can tell before a crisis whether or not you can trust God to be faithful to His Word. You've dealt with God in smaller matters before: has He ever been unfaithful to His Word? If He has, then you know better than to trust Him in something big. If He has always been faithful to His Word, though, that is your proof that He will be faithful to His Word when your life is on the line.

Notice that this verse does not deal with unfaithfulness as a sin; rather, it gives you a practical, easy-to-use test for judging faithfulness in yourself and in others. It points to something easy to see, and uses that to show you something that cannot be seen.

Another principle is found in James. This one deals with the tongue.


James 1:26.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

This verse is especially valuable, because it tells you how to detect something designed to avoid being detected by you: deception. It does this by asking you to give yourself a simple test:

1. Do you consider yourself a godly person?

2. If so, is your tongue godly? Is your tongue under control?

If you were able to answer "yes" to both questions, then you're in good shape: you seem to be a godly person. If, however, you answered "yes" to the first question, but "no" to the second, you have been deceived. The evidence given by your tongue does not agree with what you believe about yourself.

James 3:2 confirms this, and adds to it:

We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Do you want to develop self-discipline? Start with your tongue! You'll find that this is much harder than it looks.

James 3:7-8.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,
but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

How can you tame your tongue, if no "man can tame the tongue"? You must submit your tongue to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Once he is in charge of your tongue, once it is committed to obeying him and pleasing him, you will find yourself with a godly tongue. And you will have found the key to living godly in every other area of your life.

A principle from God's Word is "worth its weight in gold." A promise in God's Word may tell you what is available from God, but a principle will tell you what seed to plant to harvest a certain crop, what action to take to bring about a desired godly result.

Take some of the mystery out of life. Look for the principles found in God's Word. Find out how God designed life to work.

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Created 6/15/97, by Ivan Maddox