May 2 ~ Ephesians 4:14
We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
Please pardon my rather gross analogy today, but when I was teaching kindergarten, a fellow teacher used to tell our 5-year-olds, “Stop picking your nose… you’ll poke out your eye!” Apparently, many of the children believed she was telling the truth. Of course, as they grew older, I’m sure more than a few figured out that this truly would not happen. But the young students, eager to trust their teacher, took her admonishment to heart!
So many of us are like children when it comes to our faith… but not always in a good way. We trust others to tell us God’s truth instead of discovering Him for ourselves. We take the word of men and women – often well-meaning souls – who have decided that “this is what it says in the Bible,” which translates into… “this is what you ought to believe!” So some of us grow up in our faith believing certain interpretations created by man are actually literal scripture references. Sometimes we discover the true word of God in these situations and change our way of thinking… and sometimes we cling to these falsehoods and make them part of our own witness.
We can’t put words in God’s mouth… and we cannot merely accept the word of other “teachers” about what He says. We have to dig deeply on our own and discover God’s message for us. We can stay children who fear poking our eye out, or we can grow up and get to truly know God and what He desires for us.
It’s up to each one of us to decide whether we will stand in confidence that we have heard from God… or whether we will let others toss us about like the wind. Where do you stand today?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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