Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. – 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21
It is a fact of life that the kernel of truth most often
comes with quite a bit of chaff. A lot
of us seem to be distracted by the chaff to the point that we miss the
essentials. I have learned much from flawed
and even depraved people. Is there some
good in everyone? I don’t know. I’ve met a few who made me wonder, but there
must be some truth in everyone, whether it’s worth sorting and winnowing to
find it is another question.
Prophecy here, as most places in the New Testament, has
little to do with predicting future events.
It is what we generally call preaching, telling the truth and giving
insight into applying the truth in everyday life. This, too, is a spiritual gift and is much
more a function of the Spirit’s presence and influence than the speaker’s
intellect, eloquence, or oratorical skills. Hearers may be entertained by eloquence. We are convicted and convinced by
prophecy. Sometimes the two
coincide. That’s good, but it doesn’t
have to be that way.
Paul’s point to the church at Thessalonica was to emphasize
the importance of this, often less showy, gift of the Holy Ghost. There is a tendency that I note in myself,
not so much to deride the familiar as to be indifferent toward it. It is unwise of me to think, though, that I
have no need of further or continual instruction. It may be true that Christians have been
washed and made clean forever by the Blood, but we still walk in this world,
and, as Jesus told the disciples in John 13, we get our feet dirty. Even if I were vain enough and conceited
enough to think that I know everything there is to know, I hope that I would
still be willing to be reminded.
For myself, I am yet a long way off from perfection, and I
do wonder sometimes if I am still on the right road. It is reassuring to run across a signpost now
and then. If I have heard it all before,
it is still true, and I can say, Amen.
The warning is that the world has its charlatans,
pretenders, false prophets and false teachers.
There are wolves dressed as sheep or, worse perhaps, as shepherds. We can test “the spirits” against Scripture
and the doctrines of the Church. If we
are well acquainted with the Truth and following the Good Shepherd, the wolves
will have trouble deceiving us.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)
3 comments:
It is reassuring to run across a signpost now and then. If I have heard it all before, it is still true, and I can say, Amen.
Amen.
"Paul’s point to the church at Thessalonica was to emphasize the importance of this, often less showy, gift of the Holy Ghost. There is a tendency that I note in myself, not so much to deride the familiar as to be indifferent toward it. It is unwise of me to think, though, that I have no need of further or continual instruction. It may be true that Christians have been washed and made clean forever by the Blood, but we still walk in this world, and, as Jesus told the disciples in John 13, we get our feet dirty. Even if I were vain enough and conceited enough to think that I know everything there is to know, I hope that I would still be willing to be reminded."
Aye, and the more truth is drilled into us the easier it becomes to hold fast to it.
Sometimes I forget.
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