Thursday,
January 12, 2023
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from
God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You
are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not
the Good News at all. You are being
fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Galatians 1:6-7
That ancient descriptive about a
wolf in sheep’s clothing is all about pretense, pretending to be
something, in order to gain another’s favorable view. The sharpened teeth of that gain is when the
wolf eats the sheep that has given trust.
When Jesus sent his disciples out to spread the good news of salvation,
he commissioned them with a cautionary bit of advice:
“Look, I am sending you out as
sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16
Wolves that pretend to be sheep
is a caricature of those who would eat you alive if they can gain your
trust. And the chief tool used by
spiritual wolves is the same as any other – the lie.
Apostle Paul was shocked at how
the Galatian church had been turned by lies so quickly. Human nature is fickle, and this is why
studying and meditating on God’s Word (which is entirely unadulterated
truth) is so important.
Internalizing the Word of Truth is a guard against the twisted claims of
pretenders. Consider these two bedrock
necessities for the believer:
Truthful words stand the
test of time, but lies are soon exposed. Proverbs 12:19
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin
against you. Psalm 119:11
The crux of the issue in the
case of the Galatian churches was truth, twisted to suit bending these new
believers away from the freedom and strength of the Gospel, in order to enslave
them to follow these spurious teachers who would take them even further from
Jesus’ way. Our day has plenty of
parallels:
·
Prosperity Lies – which attempt to make the Gospel a pyramid scheme, an easy entry into
gaining wealth or power if you subscribe to the cult’s twisted version of God’s
Word.
·
Healing Lies – focusing on physical well-being of the body as something that can be
extorted from God’s power by twisting Scripture out of its context…making the
focus all about our human bodies, which by definition are flesh that is
passing-away (wouldn’t it be terrible to live in these aging, sagging, weakening human skeletons forever?).
·
Sexual Lies – these days have no end. In my
youth (1950’s/60’s) the so-called sexual revolution “liberated” fornication
(sexual activity between unmarried couples)…it became accepted, even lauded. In the 1980’s same-sexuality relationships
started to become normal. A neverending
barage of media and social campaigns culminated during the Obama era of
legalizing same-sex marriage, flaunting man’s disdain for God’s commands.
·
Spiritual Lies – have the result of destroying long-standing faithfulness to godlinesss,
and have even turned sanctuaries consecrated to worship of God into houses of
human idolatry, “sanctifying” same-sex marriages. The United Methodist Church, descendant of
Wesley’s strong foundation in the Scriptural Word of Truth, is undergoing a
complete devolution in this lie.
In our day the lie
has gained a reputation for truth. Sad.
For You Today
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions
library. To dig deeper on
today’s topic, explore some of these:
The Third Day
and Living in Sodom
Images: Title Pixabay.com Images without citation are either personal
property of the author, or in public domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
