What's your bible?

bible (def.): any book, reference work, periodical, etc., accepted as authoritative, informative, or reliable

What bible do you read?  The barbecue bible?  The homeowners bible?  The football coaches bible?  The birdwatchers bible?  What book, reference work, or periodical do you accept as authoritative, informative, and reliable?  The New York Times?  People magazine?  Ladies Home Journal?

I love magazines.  I like that they have short articles that I can read quickly.  I like seeing pictures of places and people I will never see in person.  I like learning something new.  I usually read them when I'm waiting--waiting to get my haircut, waiting to see the doctor, waiting for my car to be finished.

(This summer I received a copy of a new magazine in the mail.  It said I was chosen to receive it because they knew I was "a woman of style and substance."  Later, I saw a friend of mine at the pool with the same magazine and I said, "Oh, you must be a woman of style and substance too!"  How did they know?)

This week I was reading the "Ladies Home Journal" and I realized how careful you have to be in what you accept as authoritative, informative, and reliable.  There is an article in the October issue that says, "'boyfriends with boundaries' can actually provide relief for harangued husbands: With other doting males filling in the gaps, their wives make fewer demands on them.  A woman who loves the company of men should be able to have more than one man love her back.  Another man's unswerving affection expands our ability to love and think and be happy... even if there is sexual chemistry, it doesn't mean that the sexual act will follow.  When selected wisely, trusty male pals are so precious that only a fool would ruin things by taking one to bed."  The author believes that every married woman needs a "cute, sensitive, slightly flirtatious guy best friend."

I have never heard worse marriage advice.  And although I can read that article and reject it as playing with fire and the worst thing I could do for my marriage, other people may not.   Another woman may read that as confirmation that it's okay to flirt with that guy at the office or to spend time alone with that neighbor down the street.  If her husband objects to her cute, sensitive and slightly flirtatious new friend, she can point to her Ladies Home Journal bible as proof that her boyfriend is good for her marriage.

Be on guard!  

Do not believe everything you read.  Romans 1:25(and the following verses) warn us what can happen when we exchange the truth of God for a lie.  God's Bible (with a capital B) is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).  Judge what you read in magazines and newspapers according to the truth.  Truth is not what I say it is or what you say it is.  Truth is what God says it is.  My opinions change.  My knowledge changes.  My behavior changes.  My circumstances change.  But God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  (Hebrews 13:8) Do you need advice?  Don't rely on the wisdom of fools.  "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God?" (1 Cor 3:19)  Rely on the word of God.  Make the Bible your bible.