Thursday Reading: 1 John 4:1-6
Key Verse: 1 John 4:2
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God;
Devotion:
As long as we are able to learn from God’s Word we will be able to discern teachings as being right and wrong; that is the way that we are able to see whether we are being taught by someone who follows God or not. If we are being taught by someone, or listening to someone preaching and what they are teaching does not agree with God’s Word, then we have found on which side of the fence they are – they are not for God. But it is very easy to listen to someone who is well spoken or who is quoting what sound like good scripture because they are normally saying all the right things which will make you feel good. But what they are saying has to be tried by comparing it with what God’s Word actually says, only then can we discern whether they are teaching Christ or not.
It is amazing to see how many people will follow someone who talks about people being blessed all the time or about love and good things; but those are not all of the truth. We know that we live in a world full of sin and because of that we will face good as well as bad. Jesus did not come to teach us only of the good but also of the bad things that we will face too. Some people simply do not want to hear the bad things and refuse to listen to them; but everyone wants to hear good things because they make themselves feel good too. You will see rapid growth in areas where only good is spoken of because people like to be uplifted but when they actually have to face something that is not good, they fall even harder because they are not prepared for that.
God wants us to be prepared to face our world that we live in, the face the people both good and bad. We can always stand by His Word because we know it to be true. We can compare things against His Word so that we can know what to do. We can live by His Word so that we know we are living right. Most of all though, we need to realise that what God has given us is sufficient. We have His Word which tells us all we need to know from beginning to end. Trust in it. Believe it. Discern from it.
Points to Ponder:
Do you always believe what people tell you?
How often do you compare what people tell you against God’s Word?
