I am convinced, with a greater degree of certainty each day, that we have lost in our practical lives the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. We actually have lots of paths to understanding authority. Most of us are more influenced far more by our own individualism than we are by the Word of God. We live under the authority of our own understanding than we do under the fear of the Lord and listening to the Scriptures He has left for us. We are far more interested in the authority of what our close friends and family say than we are in the authority of Scripture. We are far more concerned their values and making sure we are not falling short than we are understanding the value that God places on various aspects of our lives. We are far too connected to cultural values and understanding than we are to the Biblical account of things. We worry too much about what our friends and neighbors will think and say. We sometimes are fearful of losing chances to proclaim the Word of God to them and so we do not mention it at all so as not to put them off.
The idea of the sufficiency of the Scriptures for the role of sole authority and practice has been left behind practically. Most of us of course would never say that we follow what the Pope says, but instead we have replaced the Pope with self, and family, and culture. These become our guiding factors instead of the Word of the Lord.
I wonder what would happen if we lived under the authority of the Scriptures in an intentional way. Would it impact how we use our time? Would it change how we spend our money? Would it adjust how we view other people? Would it correct our poor behaviors? And if it is not doing these things on a daily basis, perhaps we should consider that the Word of God is not our true authority and ask ourselves, "What is?"
