"O you simple ones, understand prudence, and you fools, be of an understanding heart. Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things; For my mouth will speak truth; Wickedness is an abomination to my lips." – Proverbs 8:5-7 (NKJV)
God wants all of His people to be wise. The Bible is chock-full of verses that speak about His desire for His people to desire to be wise in the fear of Him. Sadly, a great many Christians remain simple-minded. Because of this, they are easily deceived – tossed and turned by every wave of teaching that sounds legit or true.
This is not good, brothers and sisters. Are you like that, easily swayed by the winds of public opinion or another person's comment? If you are, I have something to share to you.
Breaking free from simple-mindedness
Many people equate being kind and gentle to being simple-minded, at least in their behaviors if not by definition. Some define simple-mindedness as being "free of deceit [or] guile." While that definition is good, it doesn't exactly describe being simple-minded at all.
To be simple-minded means "having a lack of good sense or judgment." Christians who are like this easily believe teachings that are false, do not probe into the Word of God, and simply take any preacher at his word without even the slightest desire to counter-check if what is said lines up with what Scripture says.
Because of simple-mindedness, people in the church are easily conned by people who are out for selfish gain. Consider the early church, and why Paul rebuked them in this passage:
"For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!" (2 Corinthians 11:2-4)
Putting up with it
At that time, Paul was rebuking the Corinthian church for simply putting up with "super apostles" who preach a Gospel that benefits nothing but their pride (see 2 Corinthians 11:12-15). These deceitful people who are out for their own gain present themselves as "apostles of Christ," and the church simply believed in them, hook-line-and-sinker.
The Bible tells us that we shouldn't have that kind of attitude. We must be a discerning people, able to judge according to the wisdom that God supplies through His Word. We should be like the Bereans who "received the word with all eagerness, daily examining the Scriptures, to find out if [what preachers taught] were so" (see Acts 17:11).
Friends, I urge you to be a wise and discerning people.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1)
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On Christmas Eve in 1914, many men were in the trenches fighting the war, but the spirit of Christmas halted the conflict for a brief period. This is the story …
For you who have been followers of Jesus Christ for a long time, maybe the pain and suffering of this world and the darkness you have had to live through this past year has gotten you down to the point of complete and utter discouragement. But all is not lost.
