Thursday Morning Devotion (God is Kind)

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

6And he raised us up together with the Messiah Jesus and seated us together with him in heavenly places, 7so that he could show the ages to come the superabundant riches of his grace in kindness bestowed on us in the Messiah Jesus. 8For you are saved by grace through faith, and even that is not your own–it is God’s gift! 9It is also not of works, so that nobody has a reason to boast. 10For we are made by God, created in the Messiah Jesus for good works, a way of life that God prepared for us ahead of time. — Ephesians 2:6-10

Jody used this scripture this morning in her Running Toward the Goal podcast. Actually she used this text back in July of 2003, when it was broadcast on the radio. This morning I selected it to go out via the Internet. If you have time today, listen to what she had to say about God’s kindness. It got me started on this devotional.

What does God owe us? This is not a difficult question when we think of it theologically or philosophically. We understand that God, as the infinite creator of everything, doesn’t actually owe us anything. God can be whatever he wants and he can do whatever he wants. But that answer isn’t very satisfying. Most of us don’t spend our time thinking theologically—thank God!—and even when we do, we often don’t find that the right theological answer gives us any actual peace.

I recall taking up a version of this question with the professor who taught my one undergraduate course in philosophy of religion. It was not one of my favorite classes. We were discussing the nature of God, and the standard philosophical debate about how God can be both all good and all powerful, and yet evil continues to exist. So I asked the professor this question: Why is it that you would assume that God is good?

Now it was a philosophy class, so nobody was allowed to answer, “He’s good because he says he is.” Rather, we were all supposed to be answering questions as though we just had to guess from the universe in general. My professor’s answer? “Because an evil god would simply be too terrifying to contemplate.”

I’m a pretty stubborn man, and not much of a philosopher or even a theologian. It’s more than 30 years later, and I still don’t think that answer was very good. If God hadn’t told us otherwise, if God hadn’t revealed himself to various prophets in scripture, if he hadn’t sent Jesus, and if he didn’t allow us to experience his presence today, I would have no particular reason to assume very much about him at all. I could guess that he had some virtues, from my point of view, in that he is at least pretty consistent in the way he runs the universe.

I think that the possibilities for how the universe is run are too terrifying to contemplate. If we have to operate without God’s self revelation, we really can’t eliminate any of those options. If we note that we are managing to live fairly well at this moment, then what about the next?

So start with this background. God owes us nothing. He created us. He could have created us for any reason whatever. We have no control, no claim, no certainty. There is no justice beyond God to which we can appeal. Who can judge God, after all?

And from that dark picture God sends his anointed Son who says God is kind. Through his infinite grace, for no other reason than that he is gracious, he created us, prepared a life of good works for us, then is going to elevate us to heavenly places where we will be seated along with his son, demonstrating just how gracious he is to future generations.

A light will seem brighter when it shines in a place that was totally dark. A thing of beauty stands out more fully when it provides relief from ugly surroundings. In this case the darkness, the ugliness is the despair of our own minds without God stepping in and providing his grace, shining his light, showing his kindness into our lives.

Those of you who are in the Wesleyan tradition hear the term “prevenient grace.” That light of God’s kindness, shining into your
darkness, is prevenient grace. It’s the grace that’s presented “while we were yet sinners.” It’s the one thing that makes it possible for us to know God and thus to know hope.

God’s kindness is truly amazing, overwhelming, life-transforming. Can you share it today with someone in despair?

Posted in Bible Books, Devotional, Ephesians | 1 Comment

Wednesday Morning Devotion (Offending)

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

42And whoever is makes one of these little ones who believe on me stumble, it would be better if a millstone were put around his neck and he were to have been thrown into the sea. — Mark 9:42

That’s a short passage of scripture, but it is one that should make us think. Jesus is all about saving people, and he doesn’t like things that get in the way! He cares more about people’s souls than about anything else. Do we?

A group of young Christians gathered after an evening meeting at a restaurant. They were enthusiastic about what they had heard, and they sincerely loved Jesus. It was very important to them to talk about what Jesus had done in their lives and to be witnesses. So they talked loudly and definitely.

Their waitress was tired and was living on the limited income. She was not a Christian. The young people made sure to witness to her, many of them with some vigor. She tried to serve them and be polite and quiet. When the Christians left the table they didn’t leave her a tip.

Now I don’t know how those young people felt about their evening, but I’m suspecting that they congratulated themselves on witnessing to their heathen waitress. I can’t be sure of that, because I don’t know who they were. I got the story from the waitress who was not attracted to Christianity based on the behavior of those particular Christians. She was driven farther from faith in Jesus by their words and actions.

Now I suspect there are far more people in our churches who have never expressed their faith public, who are afraid to offer the blessing in restaurants because people might see them, or who always explain that it just wasn’t the time to witness when they let someone pass by without talking about Jesus.

But at the same time there are many who use disparaging terms of non-Christians, who witness in an unfriendly way, or who talk about Jesus when their behavior is not a good witness. If you are wearing a WWJD bracelet while berating the store clerk for a lack of service, what is your witness for Jesus?

But a more basic question is this: How do you decide what, if anything, to say about Jesus to someone you encounter? It’s quite possible that you may be talking to someone who has been seriously hurt in church, and one more person talking to them is more than they can handle. On the other hand you might be talking to someone whose deepest desire is for someone to care about them, to approach them, and offer to pray with them.

In practical terms, let me suggest two things. First, listen to the Holy Spirit, all day, every day. Be ready. Second, listen to the person, and not necessarily in that order. Often the Holy Spirit is not going to help you when you have the information available right in front of you. Take time to find out who that other person is before you assume you have the solution to their problems.

But there is a critical point in this verse. On what basis do you decide what to do? Is your motivation the same one that Jesus has? Is your primary concern for that person’s soul? If it is, you’re going to find it much easier to listen, to discern, and to behave in the best way possible. If not, you’re likely to be a stumbling block, either through your silence or through your offending speech.

Let the mind of Jesus guide you (Philippians 2:5-11).

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Tuesday Morning Devotion (Seeking Truth)

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is worthy of praise—if there is anything that is excellent or praiseworthy, those are the things you should think about. — Philippians 4:8

We live in a time when truth has a low popular value. Check it out in your workplace or amongst your friends and relatives, and you’re sure to hear the common expression, “That may be true for you, but for me . . .” Now partly this attitude came about because many people were very arrogant about their knowledge of the truth. Persecution resulted when some people decided that they had the truth under their control, and if you disagreed with them, you were obviously fighting against God and the absolute truth.

But in getting away from arrogant people who claimed to have all the truth, many of us have gotten away from the idea that we can actually know anything. Any opinion on any topic is OK. Who are you to argue? There is also a sort of assumption of humility. If I have only opinions—no information and no facts—then I always appear humble and teachable.

But Jesus calls on us to seek the truth, and the truth will make us free (John 8:32). Now notice that Jesus, who was surely in possession of the truth, didn’t call for an army to enforce his truth on everyone around him. At the same time he was not embarrassed to present it to people and to call on them to respond.

Since we are imperfect what we need is a combination of constantly seeking the truth, but also being humble about our current knowledge.

Think of it like navigating by the stars. If you are traveling at night, and you locate the pole star, Polaris, you can start walking toward it. How far away is Polaris? Well, I checked on the Internet (Nearest Stars and Wikipedia on Light Year), and here’s what I found. Polaris is 132 parsecs from earth. A parsec is 3.26 light years, so Polaris is close to 431 light years. A light year is 5,879,000,000,000 miles, so Polaris is 2.53E+015 miles away. Don’t worry about what that means. If my spreadsheet goes into scientific notation, you can just regard the number as too big. If I can walk four miles per hour steadily, that would require 633,462,250,000,000 hours or somewhere in the neighborhood of 72,313,042,237.44 years to get there, not allowing time for sleep or meals. For those who don’t like to count the places in a big number, that’s more than 72 billion years. Since the universe is generally estimated to be no more than between 15 and 20 billion years old, I could expect to walk at least four times the age of the universe in order to reach my goal. (Please don’t try to incorporate into this the fact that the stars are moving as well, or that there’s no air out there in space and no surface for me to walk on—that’s much too complicated!)

So you got it several sentences ago. I’m not going to get there. Duh! But within my narrow little area of responsibility here on earth, as long as I keep walking in that direction I will be going north. I can travel in other directions in relation to that star as well, and do so accurately enough.

But supposing you come up to me and read off all the numbers in the preceding paragraph. “Why do you bother walking toward the north star?” you ask. “You’re never going to get there. Not only will you die, but the entire universe will die before you get there. Just walk in any old direction!”

What do I say? “I’ll never get to the north star, but that’s not important. As long as I walk toward it, I’ll be going north!”

God knows infinitely more than I do. The big numbers I just used for the pole star are as nothing next to the difference between God’s absolute knowledge and my itty-bitty, teensy-weensy little bit of knowledge. But if I always look toward God, and just keep going forward, I’ll always be going in the right direction.

Grab hold of what you know to be true. Keep looking at Jesus your savior. You may be only a little less mixed up than those around you, but you’ll always be headed the right way.

Posted in Bible Books, Devotional, Philippians | 1 Comment

Monday Morning Devotion (Imitated Imitators)

Posted on June 18, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

Become my imitators, as I imitate Christ. — 1 Corinthians 11:1

This is a text that makes most of us very uncomfortable. There are at least three possible reasons for this.

First, we are afraid of pride. How can we tell people to follow our example without pride or self-righteousness? Surely the person who says, “Follow my example” is a person who feels that he has attained it all, that if people would just become like him, they would be oh so much better off.

Second, however, is the opposite. We are afraid we won’t hold up. We use the common saying, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” as a standard excuse. We hold that up to the world, giving the message, “Please don’t look at me. I might give you a bad impression of Christianity.” Is it any wonder that sometimes our testimony can’t get through the excuses?

Third, we feel that the right thing, the pious thing, is to point people immediately to Jesus. It seems so arrogant to suggest people follow our example when the example of Jesus is available to them.

But Paul in this passage makes that frightening statement to the Corinthian church. Imitate me as I imitate Jesus. But Paul wasn’t a person who thought he had already attained (Philippians 4:12). Yet even in that letter he asks the believers in Philippi to live in a way that is worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27).

But even though he doesn’t claim to have attained to everything God wants him to accomplish, Paul is not afraid to tell people to follow his example. Now Paul was an apostle, but I don’t think that really makes a difference here.

There are people out there who can look at you, but who are not ready to make the jump from the life of Jesus to their day to day existence in the 21st century. They need to know that someone they can see, someone they can call on the telephone, someone who experiences problems that are the same as theirs are can follow Jesus and make a new life. They need to know that Christianity is working for someone here and now. If your testimony is that Jesus has saved you by his grace, that is a testimony you should have.

The fact that you’re not perfect isn’t a problem here. What you have to show them is how an imperfect person in a troubled world can become a disciple. They need an example they can see of how to follow Jesus now. It’s not pride or arrogance to be that example—it’s obedience.

Let’s all try to be examples that others can follow this week.

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Friday Morning Devotion (Pitching Tents, Building Houses)

Posted on June 15, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

2Six days later Jesus took Peter and James and John and brought them to a high mountain apart from the rest, and his appearance was changed in front of them. 3And his clothes became sparkling white, much whiter than any bleach on earth could make them. 4And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and the two of them were talking with Jesus. 5And Peter responded by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi! This is a good place to be! Let’s make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6He said this because he didn’t know what he was saying, because they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and there was a voice that came from the cloud: “This is my beloved son, listen to him!” 8And immediately after that they didn’t see anything, except Jesus himself with them. — Mark 9:2-8 [emphasis mine]

Today’s message on the Bible Pacesetter podcast is from Mark 9 2-8, the story of the transfiguration. I’ve underlined the key phrase in that passage. Peter sees Jesus transfigured. He knows he’s encountering the manifest presence of God, and he immediately decides he’s in a good place and makes plans to stay there. But Jesus isn’t on the same program. He’s planning to leave.

Now it’s interesting that this comes right after Jesus has been telling the disciples about the cross (8:27-9:1). Jesus has explained that there’s a path that he must walk to go to glory, and that path goes through extreme suffering and an unjust death. Those who want to follow Jesus need to be prepared for the same thing. “Take up your cross” (8:34) was not a theoretical sort of thing. We talk about taking up our crosses when we have to teach an extra Sunday School class, preach an extra sermon, work an extra day, or hear someone ridicule us for being Christians. But for the disciples, “taking up one’s cross” meant one thing–death. And the death it meant was likely the worst possible.

So up the mountain they go and there is the glory of God. This is good stuff. This is where we’re going. Why take any more detours, go through any more suffering, or spend any more time walking around Galilee proclaiming? We’ve got it!

That’s pretty much the way we think about wonderful spiritual experiences. Why can’t we stay right there? This is good stuff! What can be wrong with wanting more and more and more of it?

Well, there’s nothing wrong with wanting more. That’s why God gives us tastes of his presence and his glory. He is showing us that there is something to want, something to look forward to and to work for. So why not pitch three tents (notice Peter even forgot one for himself)?

There are two big problems. First, we’d be pitching our tents at the place we got a taste, not at the actual meal. No matter how exciting that retreat was, no matter how wonderful the time of worship, no matter how overwhelming God’s presence was in your church, that is not all there is. Idolatry has been defined as giving the worship due to God to anything less than God. God gives you a taste of his presence so that you’ll want the real thing. Second, there’s a world out there that needs to hear. Peter not only forgot about a tent for himself, he forgot about one for the other two disciples who were there, and he completely forgot all the rest of the 12, and then the whole crowd. They need God’s touch as well.

13In faith these all died, not having received the promises, but they saw and reached out to them from afar, and they confessed that they were strangers and wanderers on the earth, 14for those who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. — Hebrews 11:13-14

No matter how well we may do in this life, this is not our home. No matter how close we may feel to God here, this is not our home. No matter what we may think or do, this is not our home. God’s faithful heroes as recorded in Hebrews 11 were folks who knew that this was not where they were to stop. They were going on to a better country.

We are going on to a better country, to the rest that God has for us, to the very presence of God for eternity. Don’t be satisfied with anything less, for yourself, or for others.

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Web Site Outage

Posted on June 14, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

This morning as I was posting the devotional we had an outage at our web service provider. Some of you got notices of the new post by e-mail, and some apparently didn’t. I apologize for any confusion.

If you didn’t get the morning devotional, you can find it here. To those of you who did get it, I apologize for the extra e-mail.

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Thursday Morning Devotion (Doing and Knowing)

Posted on June 14, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

12So when he had washed their feed, taken up his cloak and reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I’ve done for you? 13You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and that’s good, because I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one each other’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, so that you should do just what I have done for you. 16I tell you the absolute truth, a servant is not greater than his master, and one who is sent out is not greater than the one who sent him. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. — John 13:12-17

Throughout this week I’ve been writing these devotionals in the morning and then sending them right out. Some of you will have noticed them showing up later than they have in the past. Normally I write them ahead of time, occasionally days in advance and save them in a folder where my wife can take a look at them and then post them or write her own. But our grandchildren are visiting, so things are a little bit out of the normal.

As I was thinking of the devotional this morning, I read this post, which includes an excellent discussion of the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification–helping us to do what we know. It also reminded me of the following, from my just finished book manuscript When People Speak for God:

Sometimes I add this to my list of tests–the obedience test. If we set out to obey God with all our hearts and minds, we will not ultimately be led astray. When we are led astray, it’s because in some sense we have kept an agenda other than finding divine wisdom. (page 173)

I recall when I first thought of applying this as a test. I was driving an Indian pastor around the Pensacola area, showing him the sights, and just out of the blue (or so it seemed), he said to me, “You know, brother Henry, if you want to hear from the Lord more, you have to obey. The more you obey, the more he will speak to you.”

Wow! Did that ever connect with my ministry experiences. Over and over I’ve spent time praying with someone who was seeking God’s will. They wanted to know what God’s plan is for them here and now. In many, many cases it turns out that the person already knows what God wants them to do, but they’re just hoping they’re wrong and that God will send some different guidance. I remember one prayer ministry time at a church altar rail with a large number of folks seeking prayer. As leader of the ministry team, I had to stay aware of what was going on around me, and I could see one woman watching me, waiting for me to be finished praying with other people. Then she dashed forward. “I need you to pray for me. I need guidance.” What she wanted was permission to divorce her husband. It was pretty clear, however, that she didn’t believe she had Biblical grounds to do so. I got my wife over as quickly as possible and we prayed with her, but I could tell she was dissatisfied.

I know that there was a time when I was struggling with the Lord over an issue and it was resolved not when God told me something new, but when I realized that I knew what was the right thing to do, and so I needed no guidance. My prayers could be compared to a child repeatedly asking his parents for permission to break the rules. As soon as I realized what I was doing and simply moved forward to do the thing that I knew, the situation began to resolve itself and things became much clearer.

I don’t mean to belittle those who do not, in fact, know what God wants them to do. I’ve been there too. There are those times when what you have to do is wait for the Lord’s guidance. What you need to make sure of is that you don’t already know, and that you aren’t letting your agenda get in the way. Then you just have to live with that horrible four letter word that starts with ‘W’–WAIT!. I wish I could tell you there was a way around that, but I know of note.

It’s not easy to get from “know” to “do.” It’s easy to point the path out to others; it’s just not easy to do yourself. But the blessing lies in obedience.

Posted in Bible Books, Devotional, John | 1 Comment

Wednesday Morning Devotion (The Jesus Only YOU Can Share)

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

27And Jesus and his disciples went out into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Now on the road he asked his disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” 28And they said, “Some say ‘John the Baptist’ and others ‘Elias,’ and others ‘One of the prophets.'” 29And he asked them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “You are the Messiah!” — Mark 8:27-29

(For the full context, read Mark 8:22-33)

There is a Jesus that only you can share. Nobody else knows him like you do. If you don’t share him, someone will miss a blessing that only you can bring.

Now let me fend off any theologians reading the list who want to remind me of Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I’m not saying that Jesus changes. Jesus is who he is, but we each see Jesus through our own relationship. Notice how Jesus first asked how others saw him. The disciples could report on what others had seen. But then he asked the disciples, the ones who were traveling and living with him all day, every day: “Who do you say that I am?”

We all live in relationship to others. If my wife describes me, you will get one impression. If I describe myself, you’ll get something different. If my children describe me, you will get something different still. Friends, colleagues, acquaintances—all have some view of who I am. Part of who you are is made up of those relationships as well.

Each of us lives in relation to God. Each of us has a personal relationship with Jesus. Some theologians these days are trying to play down the personal relationship with Jesus and emphasize the fixed, general relationship of humanity with the savior of the world—unchanging and common to all. But Jesus ordained evangelism by individuals. That’s you and me, sharing what we know of Jesus through our testimony, our own picture of Jesus.

Sometimes we’re afraid of being too personal. We’re not important enough to be talking about our own relationship. Perhaps we should tell people about how our pastor relates to Jesus. Perhaps we should use a tract and just follow the directions.

Psychologists will tell you that just knowing the facts about a relationship will not necessary provide you with a solution. A husband and wife can know precisely what’s wrong—in their heads. But somewhere, somehow there has to be a breakthrough where the relationship starts to heal. Just saying that I know what it is that my wife does that annoys me doesn’t mean that I can make it stop annoying me. But my relationship can make that work.

You are unique, and your relationship to God is unique and precious. Don’t stop when you’ve answered the question, “Who do other people say I am?” You may find some good answers there, or you may not. There are many answers to that question. Let Jesus get right in the way of your agenda and ask you, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

When you have the answer to that, you’re going to find that, like the disciples, there’s something special about your relationship that is going to connect with someone you know. You have a testimony that someone needs to hear, and nobody else’s testimony will replace it.

Who do you say Jesus is today?

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Tuesday Morning Devotion (Like a Child)

Posted on June 12, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

13And they brought them children so that he might touch them. But the disciples rebuked them. 14But when Jesus saw them he was indignant and he said to them, “Let the children come to me, don’t prevent them, for of this sort is the kingdom of God.” 15I tell you truly, whoever doesn’t receive the kingdom of God as a child will never enter into it.” 16And he called them, placed his hands on them, and blessed them. — Mark 10:13-15

I’ve been poking my nose into a debate about the atonement in the blogosphere off and on. (In case you haven’t realized it yet, this is Henry.) Last night a friend asked me just what it’s all about. She didn’t really follow the debate. I think that’s a good question. Personally I think if you can follow the debate, in which phrases like “penal substitutionary atonement” and “forensic justification” are quite common. You might come to think that salvation is complicated.

So I want to step aside from all the debating and say clearly: It’s not complicated. If you can come to the end of this devotional, of any sermon I preach, or of any class I teach understanding simply that God loves you because you’re his child, then I’ve gotten across all the complexity that I need to.

I’m not criticizing people for discussing the complexity. I get involved in that just as much as they do. There’s so much to God and the way he works in the world that we can never completely comprehend it all. But that’s not the most important thing. Take it from me—I’ve been there. You can get so immersed in the theological complexities, even in defending sound theology, that you lose sight of God, who is the subject of theology. You can be so careful to keep people’s theology correct that you drive them away from God.

My grandchildren are visiting this week. I love my grandchildren. Since I’m a stepparent, I tell folks that I’m totally objective when I say that my children are the most wonderful in the world and my grandchildren are the smartest and most beautiful children out there. You’re going to laugh at me, and that’s OK. Why do I love my grandchildren? Did I look at their first baby pictures, discern the signs of future genius and heroism in some part of their features and then decide to love them?

Any of you who are parents or grandparents know that’s a silly notion. Before there was a picture, before I knew anything about them, I loved them. It didn’t matter whether there were signs of genius, of beauty, or of physical prowess. They were beautiful before I saw them. There was never a chance that I was going to look at them and decide they were anything else. I didn’t have to wait for them to realize what a grandfather was, or to do any particular thing. Am I thrilled when they hold out their arms to me? Yes!! But that doesn’t cause me to love them. I already do.

That’s the way God looked at you. He’s not waiting for you to figure something out. He’s not waiting for your next great accomplishment. He doesn’t save you because you’re cuter, better behaved, or—and this is important—smarter than anyone else. We humans are really afraid of grace. We want to find a reason. If God loves us unconditionally, that’s simply too good to be true. He must require something. So we invent salvation by works. But Paul said, “Not of works, lest anyone should boast.” So back comes the theologian and says, “Well, then, if you don’t understand fully that it’s not of works, if you try in any way to do good works, if you think in any way that you’ve done something right, then it is works, and you’re not saved.” That’s being saved by correct doctrine.

But you don’t have to understand all that correct (or incorrect) doctrine. Come to God as a child. Before a child knows what a parent or grandparent is, or how their mind works, or how love comes to be in someone’s heart, they just accept love.

God loves you. It may be too good to be true, but it is true!

Posted in Bible Books, Devotional, Mark | 2 Comments

Monday Morning Devotion (Considered Steps)

Posted on June 11, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

A fool will believe anything, but a sensible person considers his steps. — Proverbs 14:15

My mother wrote a little book about God’s guidance and answered prayer which she titled Directed Paths. She took that title from Proverbs 3:5-6. I’ve observed over the years, however, that we sometimes have a problem combining the advice of that proverb with the one quoted at the beginning of our devotion. What often happens is that we believe absolutely anything, and take it as God directing our paths.

But both texts are equally a part of scripture, and they each have something to teach us. I know that my mother spent much time in prayer seeking God’s guidance and wisdom. There were many paths she was invited to take by people who claimed to know God’s will, but only certain paths were the ones God was directing her to take. Sometimes we have a choice between different good paths, and we need to choose the best path to take.

There are a number of ways we can get led astray.

  1. Taking the path that everybody else in our circle is taking. Often our choice of path is determined by our friends, relatives, our class in school, or our church congregation. You can probably think about many other possibilities. Just because everybody (that you know) is doing it doesn’t make it a good idea.
  2. Rejecting something because it goes against tradition. Tradition can be a good thing. It’s the experience of our community. But traditions can outlive their usefulness, and can even result in applying the wrong principle because the situation has changed, yet we continue to follow the old path.
  3. Listening to an anointed preacher. Now you may have a negative reaction to this one. Why shouldn’t you listen to an anointed preacher? But many anointed preachers have gone astray. You should always listen, but you should test everything for yourself.
  4. Accepting it because it is in a Christian book. As publishers of Christian books, Jody and I are well aware of the increased weight given to words that manage to get into print. But you must treat those words in the same way as any others. Test them. Accept what is right. Reject what is wrong (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22).
  5. Accepting something because someone says it is a word from the Lord. Making a claim is easy. Being right is harder. Backing up what you say and being right is even harder yet. Just because someone says that God said it doesn’t mean you have to believe. Test, then accept or reject.
  6. Accepting something because a person has academic degrees. Some people are intimidated by people with academic degrees. I’ve encountered folks who think I’m right because I have a degree in Biblical languages, even when I’m talking about a subject not related to my degrees. People with degrees have generally studied a topic, and they deserve to be heard, but possessing a degree doesn’t make a person right. Test everything!

You are the person who is going to have to live with what you do. Make sure to spend time with God and pray for divine wisdom (James 1:5). Don’t be afraid to look things up. Don’t be afraid to study. Don’t be afraid to wait until you have clarity and knowledge.

God will direct your paths, but he also asks you not to play the part of the fool, and just accept anything that looks good. Test and choose!

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