Be Careful What You Swallow

I have my medication in blister packs, and I just usually take them without much thought. But this particular morning as I was starting the new month I checked a pill as I didn't recognise it. I checked it with the description on the labels, and it didn't seem to match up so I didn't take it. I decided to go to my pharmacist with the pack and the pill I wasn't sure of. They checked it for me and reassured me that it was the right one, just a different make to what I usually have. It was just that the description hadn't been changed, but as the saying goes "it is better to be safe than sorry."

As a Christian I am to be discerning about spiritual things and not just take them at face value, just because it says Christian, doesn't mean that it is. Everything we read, watch and listen to should be tested with the scriptures. When Paul went to Berea and spoke to the Jews there, explaining from the Jewish scriptures that Messiah would come, and what would happen when He did, He could show them that indeed Jesus truly was the long waited for Messiah. Did they take Pauls word for it, no, they went to the scriptures themselves to see if these things were so. If then, Paul, who was an apostle appointed by the risen Lord Jesus, was being checked out by the scriptures, how much more in our modern age should we check what is being said and done in the name of the Lord.

False teaching, false preachers, and false denominations abound in our day so we should not be slack in testing everything we hear, see, and read. Self-appointed teachers and prophets abound in this age and if we do not personally, prayerfully study the Word of God then we will soon get drawn into error. We should not rely on another person’s commentary of the Holy Bible, but be as the Bereans and test what they say with scripture. We will not be able to blame anyone else when we stand before Christ, we will be accountable before Him for all we have done in the body. Sarah Young when writing her book, Jesus Calling, said she laid aside God's Word because she wanted more. That is the worst thing anyone can do, the moment we don't use the scripture to test the spirits then we find ourselves being deceived, she did not test the spirit and was deceived by another Jesus. The Jesus of Sarah Young is not the Jesus of the Bible, it is another Jesus calling 

In the area where I live we have many sayings, one of which is "I'm not joking, they'll swallow anything," meaning they are so gullible that they believe everything anyone says, they don't check the source or the truth of a matter. Another saying is, "You can say blacks white and they'll believe you." That is not a good way to be. Facebook is rife with hoaxes, and misleading posts, and yet people take them at face value and even share them, without checking the origin. There are wonderful sites that expose these things, I would recommend them, especially for Facebook. You will find a list of the top ten sites here, Top Ten Hoax Exposers. But for Christians there is only source of truth you can rely on 100% and that is Gods Word, the Holy Bible. Whatever you read, watch or listen to, check it with scripture. Some people will say when they realise they are wrong, "I stand corrected," are we as Christians willing to be corrected as Habakkuk was?  Habakkuk 2:1I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.

Are you willing to see what God will say to you through His Word, and wait to answer till you have been corrected?