“When we have rejected the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, we allow Christians to depend on things other than the Bible as their guide to matters of life and faith. In particular, people begin to depend upon mysticism, upon ways supposedly knowing God apart from the Bible. They look inward for intrinsic wisdom rather than outward to the Bible for its extrinsic wisdom. They forsake biblical reason in favor of feelings, voices, visions, or other subjective means of supposedly knowing God. This is a deadly error, for spiritual discernment must be founded upon God’s objective revelation of himself in Scripture. We can only judge between what is wrong and what is right when we know what God says to be true. We can know this only from Scripture.” (Tim Challies, “The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment,” p.47). I’m reading a great book. Do you like to read? I hope you do. Reading, for me, is an adventure. It is a form of transportation into the mind and thoughts of the author. This can be exhilarating!! I want to share with you this book I’m reading. As you can tell from above, the book is “The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment.” Tim Challies, the author, has written this book. The book has 184 pages. It is a great book! The excerpt I’ve quoted above is a reality we all face today. This era we live in is the first era where being spiritual has taken many shapes and forms. Almost anything today can be passed as spiritual, and hence, deposited with some form of intrinsic value. Many today are quick to discard the Bible as their final and only authority. Many professing Christians today rely heavily on every other source as their rule of faith other than the Bible. “Sola Scriptura” no longer pervades our Christian churches. This is a woeful ailment. How many times have you heard people say that spirituality to them is no longer found in the church or the Bible? How many times have you heard people say that “I find God and know him because he speaks to me” or they had a vision or dream? I say many times! The question is not, can God use these mediums for communication, but “does He,” is the question to ask. God can do anything. This is the doctrine of omnipotence. He is capable of endless and unlimited things. The point is that God has spoken through His Son and His words are preserved in the New Testament as our final authority in matters of faith. Let me ask you, in times of need, do you look to God’s Word for guidance, direction, wisdom, instruction, and encouragement first, instead of someone or something else? Do you lean on your own understanding instead of trusting God by reading, studying, and applying His Word? This, my friend, is the litmus test to whether you are living in light of “Sola Scriptura.” If your first reaction is not delving into His Word then you are not allowing the Word to be a lamp and a light. My friend, it then becomes evident that you are leaning on your own understanding. This is being wise in your own eyes, nevertheless. Look to the resource of all wisdom. He is our Sufficiency!  (cf. Heb 1:1-3, 2Peter 1:14-21, 2 Timothy 3:14-16, Proverbs 3:5-7)