Some things look good on the surface, but are not good for us in the end. And it’s foolish to simply blindly accept everything without testing it first. We must carefully determine if what we’re believing is truly from God or not.
Fish are caught through deception. What looks like their next tasty meal is actually a trap and becomes their death.
And we can fall into the same type of deception when we don’t test the spirits, thoughts, and many ideas given to us.
For instance, it’s easy to adopt whatever is popular. But what’s popular is not always good. And we must discern if we’re simply following the crowd to our death or if it’s best to find that narrow and difficult path leading to life.
We also test the spirits by observing the fruit produced.
Are the ideas and perspectives we’re adopting leading us to greater joy and peace, kindness and generosity, life, love, and unity?
Or, are they stirring more anger, hatred, and division?
Are we becoming more depressed and anxious or growing in the boldness of our faith and freedom in Christ?
The spirit is not from God when the goodness of God is not being produced, regardless of how attractive or popular it might be otherwise.
Like the fish, it’s often too late before we realize we’ve been hooked and taken out through the deception of sweet sounding views and sentiments.
As such, we must take seriously our charge to test the spirits and see if they are from God.
Our very life and those we are responsible for hang in this balance.
Remember, not every spirit, thought, or idea presented is from God. Test the spirits and hold firm only to what leads you deeper into love with God and each other.
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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