Articles

Articles

Noble-Minded

Noble-Minded

Brett Petrillo

     One of the greater compliments ever given in scripture is found in Acts 17. When Paul and Silas arrived in the area of Berea, they made an awesome observation about these people, "Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11).

     If Paul were to come and look at our congregation, I wonder what observations he would make about our dedication to learning God's word. Would he see a congregation that has to pull teeth to get people interested in a study of the word? Would he see that it is a challenge to get people to show up to a lectureship or gospel meeting? Or would he see that this is a people who absolutely loves studying God's word? Would he be able to say that we show up to nearly every opportunity we can in order to "examine the Scriptures" to see if the things we believe are true? Would he say that we too are "noble-minded"?

     The word "noble-minded" here is simply communicating that they had a mind dedicated to noble things. Nothing could be more noble than studying that which reveals answers to the most important aspects of this life (2 Peter 1:3). These were people of high character, and their actions proved this in them.

     From Bible classes to lectureships, and gospel meetings to Bible studies, there are a plethora of ways to dig in the word and examine the Scriptures. If we aren't taking advantage of these spiritual feedings, we're truly missing out. It might even be to the point where we're spiritually starving.

     Let's take a page out of Berean's life book and make sure we are people who thrive on digging in and examining the Scripture!