Saturday, January 25, 2014

Appraise, Then Act

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Many tender-minded Christians fear to sin against love by daring to inquire into anything that comes wearing the cloak of Christianity and breathing the name of Jesus. They dare not examine the credentials of the latest prophet to hit their town lest they be guilty of rejecting something which may be of God. This is supposed to indicate a high degree of spirituality. But in sober fact it indicates no such thing. It may indeed be evidence of the absence of the Holy Spirit.

Gullibility is not synonymous with spirituality. Faith is not a mental habit leading its possessor to open his mouth and swallow everything that has about it the color of the supernatural. Faith keeps its heart open to whatever is of God, and rejects everything that is not of God, however wonderful it may be.

"Try the spirits" is a command of the Holy Spirit to the Church (1 John 4:1). We may sin as certainly by approving the spurious as by rejecting the genuine. To appraise things with a heart of love and the to act on the results is an obligation resting upon every Christian in the world

Can you renounce everything which is inconsistent with the glory of God and the highest good of your fellowmen?

~A. W. Tozer~

No comments:

Post a Comment