Be Careful

"He's asking us to speak the Word with encouragement and patience."

BE CAREFUL little eyes what you see. Be careful little ears what you hear. For the Father, up above, is looking down with love. Be careful little Christian what you meditate on. What we take in, will alter our thinking, and affect our behavior. Sadly, this includes much “Christian” teaching. God loves all people. He has called many as pastors and teachers, and He anoints them to hold their office. But there is a standard in the Word of God that servants of God must stand in to follow His leading and work in His Presence.

There is no purpose to a sermon without Presence.

Presence is the Holy Spirit, is Jesus, is the Father. We cannot say anything we want to say and call it “the Word of the Lord.” Frankly, most are not listening to instruction but are making assumptions based on the doctrines of men and mental reasoning. Jesus spoke sharply to the Pharisees about this. Here were men who knew the Law and said they obeyed it, yet they did not love people or know their Messiah was talking to them.

God is asking us to learn to listen to Him and to know when what is said isn’t His Word. He’s asking us to speak the Word with encouragement and patience and not in condemnation and judgment. There is a great deal of this in the church.

On the side of the road, I saw a tiny sign poked into the soil which said something like “Repent and be saved or there is hell.” I can assure you no one will do that by reading that sign. We are peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). This means to all men – saved and unsaved, of any denomination, any culture, any belief system. God is us makes us calm in situations of stress and able to think clearly and hear His voice. He never speaks strife, anger, or defense against others. The Scripture tells us strife is the cause of every evil work (1 Timothy 6:4;James 3:16). We must allow God to rule in our emotions and our actions.

We must be able to enter any room and no matter who is there, be full of joy, a light to all in the house (Matthew 5:15).

Our study of the Word must take us deeper into the things of God, bring us closer to Him, and make us much wiser. We don’t read the Word to correct others. We read it to be more mature and to know God better, and the more you know Him, the more discerning you will be about your little eyes and little ears. And your big mouth. Because He is asking us to speak less and say more. He desires us to recognize error, especially in our understanding of the Scriptures. Many say, “The Lord hath said” what the Lord hasn’t said, and I know if they’d talked to Him, they would know Truth.

He is love. He is asking we look and sound like love and let go of criticism. He’s asking us to walk in the New Covenant Truth and not under Old Covenant principles. Tithing is one example. We are free now to give what is on our heart to give. There is no condemnation for not giving, for giving less than 10%, or any other measure. NOT GIVING is not a sin. But it’s taught like it is. Eating is another example. Romans 14 makes it clear we can eat as we please, but with what we eat, we are not to judge others. Our judgment will cause them to believe they have sinned. The apostle Peter saw a sheet let down from heaven and heard the Spirit say to come and eat (Acts 10:12). Much of what he saw was unclean in Jewish Law. It marvels me how these men, the apostle Paul included, walked out of the obedience to the Law in what was a strict religious culture. That took great backbone, and I’m sure there was criticism. But like they taught from the heart of the Spirit of God, if you choose to walk in one part of the Law, you must walk in all of it (Galatians 5:18;James 2:10).

Let’s not be like those who would not listen but chose arguments and division instead of the unity Jesus came to earth to restore. Death and sin, which causes death, caused violence (chamas) to become so strong that God flooded the earth to cleanse it. He sent Jesus to make our clean heart a sure thing. But it requires us to become focused and to let go of all the selfish things that block our view.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” (Galatians 5:14-15)

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com