false teaching

Hatch or Go Bad

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“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

You’ve probably heard the age-old excuse for bad behavior — that’s just who I am, take it or leave it.

But the problem is that none of us can stay who we are indefinitely. We’re either moving toward or away from being better people. Or according to the Bible, we’re either becoming more like Christ or more like the world. Staying on the fence isn’t an option.

At some point, we’ve just got to hatch. We have to come out of our shells, so to speak. For many of us, that means becoming more vocal about what we believe, i.e. sharing our faith and having those gospel conversations. It means we can’t expect people to read our minds and our actions to guess what we believe. We have to tell them.

I can’t find where the Bible says that faith comes from seeing our faith acted out. While living what we believe is important and is what shows our faith to be genuine, what people need is to hear our faith proclaimed. We’re supposed to be ready to give an answer for anyone who wonders about the hope we have in Christ.

The problem is that many believers have never grown. They’re still babies in the faith. They never pray or read their Bibles. They don’t know very much about what they believe, much less why they believe it. Too many of them are fair fame for false teaching and cults. Too many are too willing to compromise convictions and doctrine over the illusion of peace and fitting in.

Basically, we all need to grow up. We need to move on from spiritual baby food to being able to feed ourselves on the Word of God and spiritually discern what’s good and what’s false. We need to live lives that will make others ask questions about why we’re different and what makes us different in the best way possible.

Lord, get us out of our shells, so that we can learn what it means to soar like eagles. Help us to grow up in You, so that we know what Your will is and what Your word says, so we can be faithful witnesses to those who need to know You. Amen.

Getting Back to the Gospel

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“Everything about which we are tempted to complain may be the very instrument whereby the Potter intends to shape His clay into the image of His Son–a headache, an insult, a long line at the check-out, someone’s rudeness or failure to say thank you, misunderstanding, disappointment, interruption. As Amy Carmichael said, ‘See in it a chance to die,’ meaning a chance to leave self behind…” (Elisabeth Elliot).

We’ve lost that aspect of faith. In our myopic, selfie-driven, self-focused faith, we miss the part where Jesus told us to take up our cross daily and follow. We’ve forgotten that He said that unless a single seed falls into the ground and dies, it can’t break open and blossom.

I’ve forgotten what it means to die to self daily. All these interruptions and inconveniences, even the hard stuff that shakes the very core of who we are, are merely chances to die and leave self behind. We have the opportunity to become more like Jesus the less we whine and the more we worship, the less we agonize and the more we adore.

So many of us follow after false teaching because we’re not grounded in the goodness of God. As one writer puts it, we lower our theology to match our pain because we’re not steeped in that goodness. The only way for our rough edges to be smoothed away and for the impurities in us to be burned away is to let the Master have His way in us and with us.

That means those thousand tiny deaths to self that happen every day in a thousand different ways. That means that all the negativity in your life, from flat tires to rude co-workers to tragedy in your family is God working in you to be more like Jesus. And God works even those things for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

This is me reminding me again that nothing is wasted in God’s economy. Everything serves a purpose — even pain — and every trial is a chance to die and be transformed into the image of God’s Son.

Not Original But A Good Reminder Still

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I know you’ve probably heard this used as an illustration in a sermon or a speech at some point in your life. I’ve heard it more than once, but it bears repeating because it is such a good and timely reminder.

Those who look for counterfeit bills don’t spend as much time studying the counterfeits as you might think. Why? Because they spend all their time studying the real bills, getting as familiar as possible with every little detail so that when a counterfeit comes along, they can instantly spot the differences.

The best way to spot false teaching is to know the truth. It’s to know the Bible. Not just carry it around or talk about it or read books about it. Not even just to read it. But to soak it in, to know it, to breathe it, to live it, so that it becomes such a part of you that you instantly recognize counterfeit teaching when you hear it.

Don’t just read words. Come to Scripture with a prayerful heart and a teachable spirit. Ask God to show you what he intended when he inspired the original authors. Pray for eyes to see the truth within, no matter how painful or uncomfortable. Then do what it says.

That’s my challenge to you. That’s my challenge to me because I frankly haven’t done a very good job of knowing the Bible I carry around. Because the Bible says false teachers will come and try to deceive you and lead you from the truth. They will say what sounds good to the ear, what feels good, and what maybe partially true. But in the end, it’s deception.

Deception leads to bondage. Only the truth, and knowing the truth, will set you free.