Sunday, January 24, 2016

Devotion: Focus On Jesus


God warns us not to believe every spirit, which is great advice.  He tells us “to test the spirits to see whether they are of God” (I John 4:1), which so few of us do.  However, there is one major problem, a flaw, if you will with this testing of the spirits.  The testing of the spirits does absolutely nothing if the answers to the test are not available to the one performing the test.  A teacher who gives students test will already possess the correct answers before giving test, which enables the teacher to determine if the answers from the students are correct or not.  In order to test, you must have some knowledge of the truth, for without it, you place yourself in a position where the wolves will devour you.  This is why everything is important as it pertains to the Bible, no matter how trivial it may appear to be.  The same applies to the one that we profess to follow, every little detail about him is very important.  The one thing that we all have to understand is that one misspoken or misprinted word can alter the truth, slightly turning what once was truth into an untruth, a deception, a lie, a counterfeit.

Because we do not know the real thing, we accept the counterfeit.  The counterfeit to the average person appears to be the real thing.  The intent or the purpose of a counterfeiter is to make or forge a copy of the original usually with the intent to deceive.  Please understand that the counterfeit exist for the sole purpose of defrauding or deceiving someone.  God warns us that Satan can transform himself into a counterfeit of the real deal.  He also tells us to be on the lookout for “the wolves in sheep’s clothing” that appear to be prophets, for they are not kind (Matthew 7:15).  The strength of the deception is such that “many shall be lead or carried away” (Matthew 24:5), which would include those that were thought to stand fast or those thought to be the elect.

Many have been and continue to be deceived because of their inability to recognize the real deal from the counterfeit.  Because we believed the messages of the one who continues to deceive the world, we now stand in a state of confusion.  You see, “For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him—and all along he knew who would—should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers” (Romans 8:29 TLB).  This has become a problem for many of us, because we have no idea who the son truly is.  Like most, we grow up predominantly in one denomination.  This denomination gave us the building blocks that helped create the foundation for our belief system.  Since that time and in our search for the truth, we have discovered that other denominations have slightly different viewpoints or interpretations on many religious doctrines, precepts and in some case, overall theologies.  However, none as so diverse as the many so-called Bible-backed viewpoints about the true nature of Jesus Christ.

Some believe him to be God himself, some believe him to be part of the three-in-one trilogy called the Trinity, and some believe him to be only a man.  Some believe him to be some combination of God and man, both one-hundred percent God and one-hundred percent man; or fifty percent God and fifty percent man; or some in between combination.  Some say he was just a myth, that he never existed, some say he has no beginning because he always existed, and others say he has always existed because he created the universe and all that we see while some say he helped the Father with creation.  Some say he has a beginning but he was, at some point created before the universe.  Some say he had a beginning but not until he was brought forth, created in the womb of Mary.  Others say he existed from the beginning, asked God the Father to create him a body so he could come to earth, while some say he created himself a body so he could come to earth, just to list a few of them.  There are many more that we could list, but we think you get the point.

We know that our commentary will not settle the issue, which is not our intent, especially since the debate predates “The First Council of Nicaea” (325 A.D.), where the Council members voted and first declared Jesus Christ was God and was consubstantial with the Father.  They also adopted the original Nicene Creed, fixed the date for Easter, and established the doctrine of the Trinity as the belief and practice of the Orthodox Church, while exiling any members who did not subscribe to their newly established doctrinal belief.  However, we do like to point out that since we are “to be conformed to the image of God’s son,” it might be beneficial for us to be able to recognize the real one so that we can avoid the counterfeit one.  As you focus on the one true Jesus the Christ, remember, “to test the spirits, that being the presenters and/or the information that is being presented to see whether it be of God, before you accept it.”

We forever pray that our inspirational message will abundantly bless you, greatly inform you, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW


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