Junk Food

As Shy and I took our usual walk this morning she suddenly disappeared behind me. I’m quite used to this as there are still quite a few things that spook her and make her nervous. I looked around to see what it could be, there were no other dogs about, no other people, no dustbins, or pizza boxes. As I continued to look and ponder she came from behind me with a chip in her mouth, my response, “No Shy, put it down” which she did.

Shy doesn’t normal pick up food from the street, I guess this morning she didn’t want to wait for her breakfast. I wonder how many times in my spiritual life I have picked up, or gone after spiritual food that in fact was not good for me but straight away the Father has said, “NO, put that down.” We must be so careful in these days, not everything with the label “Christian,” is sound doctrine from God’s Word, in other words rather than being nutritional it is junk food, and apt to harm our spiritual growth rather than help it.

If what we read and hear doesn’t line up with Scripture, then it is best being put in the bin.

When Shy got home she enjoyed a very nutritional meal, one that will keep her healthy, and full of vitality. If we remain within the confines of God's Word then our spiritual health and well being will be good, and we will continue to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus, and love and serve Him as we ought. 

No Access

My daughter and I had arranged a few week ago to have a trip over to Three Shire Heads. I had seen photographs on Pinterest and thought how beautiful it was, and that I would be able to get some lovely photos. We also decided that if the weather was in our favour we would take the dogs with us, my daughter has two Chihuahuas. The scenery on the way there was beautiful, I must admit I am bias when it comes to Derbyshire, there are some amazing places. And although the sun wasn’t shining, still it did not detract from the beautiful scenery we were passing through. We were relying on Satnav for directions, and we stopped at a village called Harlington, with the usual Derbyshire stone featuring in the buildings, it had a lovely B and B called Parson’s House, which I took a photo of for future reference, thinking that I might have a couple of nights stay there and explore the village and surrounding countryside.

We set off again after stretching our legs, the puppies included, and continued on our journey to Three Shire Heads, or so we thought! But it was not to be, we found ourselves on a dirt track, the only traffic scramble bikes. We did park up and let the puppies have a walk, but we were not to see the Three Shires Heads. We did however have a lovely walk along Cromford Canal before returning home, we even found three treasure rocks, which we now have to re-hide. I couldn't understand why we couldn't find our way, after all we had the sat nav and I had looked on Google. But I hadn't done a thorough search, I had taken the first thing I read, there was much more to this journey than I thought.

I was reminded of the passage of scripture where the Lord Jesus, says to some, "l know you not, depart from me you workers of iniquity." They were false converts, they were people who had chosen a different path than that on which the Lord commands we must go. They could not enter heaven via the route they had taken. Many people have a false idea of going to heaven, they ignore the fact that Jesus said that there is only one way to the Father, and that is through Him. Salvation and eternal life cannot be bought, earned, worked for, and neither does any man deserve it. 

We have clear instructions on how to receive forgiveness, salvation and eternal life from God, in His word, the Holy Bible. Repent of your sin, everyone is a sinner, everyone has broken Gods laws, and therefore we a condemned. But Christ took our punishment on the cross. When we break the law of our land, then we are judged, found guilty and punished, so too with the law of God, we have broken Gods laws, we are guilty and will be punished. No one can escape Gods justice, our only hope is Jesus, He took our place, He was punished so that we would not have to be. 

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?