If it take you becoming the “family pastor”, then do it by example.
I was having a conversation recently with a family member because he was reading a passage in the Book, and he was confused about something. He asked me to explain it to him. So I did, the best I could.
He was like, “how do you know this about God and what the Bible says?”
I told him something that I think a lot of believers actually need to hear.
If you do not know your Bible, other people’s conclusions about God will become your theology.
That’s extremely dangerous, y’all, because this is exactly how deception works.
Not everything that sounds spiritual is Biblical.
Not everything with God attached to it came from God.
And this is why, reading your Bible every single day, even if it’s just a page, matters.
It is not optional if you say you follow Jesus. You have to be in your Book.
Because if all you know about God is what the Preacher said on Sunday during service, or what your favorite influencer said, and what your grandma said or what your parents believe, but you actually have never opened Scripture for yourself, you are vulnerable.
People can love you and still be wrong. Your parents can love you and still pass down fear instead of faith.
Your grandparents can love God and still have incomplete understanding.
A preacher can be charismatic and still be off.
That’s why I love the Bible.
Because in Acts 17 it talks about the Bereans. They heard teaching and still went back to Scripture to test it.
That is mature Christianity.
Hosea 4:6 says, “my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge.”
Destroyed. Not because they don’t love God, but because they did not know.
If you don’t know truth, deception gets easy. Deception takes over your life. The enemy is not going to always show up obvious. Sometimes deception sounds wise, it sounds good. Sometimes it sounds loving. Sometimes it’s culturally acceptable.
Meanwhile, it directly contradicts Scripture.
That’s why Jesus fought temptation. It wasn’t based on popular belief. It wasn’t bassed on the applause of everybody else. It was Scripture that said it. That is the truth.
Loving God isn’t just saying, “I love God.” Jesus says, “if you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)
Read the Word.
Meditate on the Word.
Let the Holy Spirit reveal the Word to you verses everybody else.
Don’t even accept what you read from me as the “gospel”, because if you do not know God for yourself, somebody else will define Him for you. Don’t let that happen.
The Bible gives us wisdom which makes it easy to be obedient, because if you know better… you do better.
Reading the Bible teaches you how to know the voice of God.
Don’t just take my word for it, read the Word for yourself.
By the way, that family member, was my dad.