My dad used to have a habit in his life. Growing up, we had a tradition of driving to the deepest spot of Texas to visit my grandparents while they lived there. Durnig these visits that I still cherish in my heart, we would travel across the border to Mexico. These trips always excited me! I loved going into an unfamiliar place to see an unfamiliar culture. While I was walking around and looking at all the cool hats, sweaters, etc., my dad was going to the same store he always went to for the purpose of one thing; to buy an imitation rolex watch. It was an unusual pursuit, but one worthy of mentioning in this note. Dad, over a course of several visits, accumulated several of these fake watches. He never sold them or did anything illegal with them, he just loved the idea of wearing a watch that looked like a REAL rolex. He even gave me one! If you ever want to know how to DISCERN the difference between a real one and a fake one... then you need to do the research. I only know of one major difference; the FAKE rolex second hand stopped within each second... the REAL rolex had a continual motion. Please add if there are others you may know.. I'm not a watch expert.
This story came to mind after my quiet time this morning. How do we discern in the church between the truth of God and the lies of man? Well, we must know the REAL source to determine the FAKE. Do we preach Christ crucified like Paul was so passionate about when he wrote the letter to the Galatians? Do we hold to a high view of God that that Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 40:12-16? Do we look to God as the only God worthy to be praised like the psalmist wrote in Psalm 148:13? Do we seek out the truth in our worship like Paul commanded in Ephesians 5:19-20? There are several forms to discern between the REAL and the FAKE in the church. I encourage you today to search the Scriptures and see in God's Word the truth that needs to be proclaimed in order to preserve the REALness of His Name and to eliminate the Fake approaches and attitudes that many hold to God.
Paul commands us in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 to "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.." Lets look at 2 words here: EXAMINE and ABSTAIN:
Examine - dokimazo (dok-im-ad'-zo: to test; by implication, to approve -- allow, discern, examine, like, (ap-)prove, try) Do we do that in our church? Do we do that in our preaching? Do we do that in our small group teaching? Do we do that in our musical worship? I encourage you, through the guidance of God's Word, to daily EXAMINE what is real and what is FAKE.
Abstain - apechomai (ap-ekh'-om-ahee: to hold oneself off, i.e. refrain -- abstain.) I make this a daily practice. If we ever do anything as a church that doesn't hold to truth and keep a high view of God, I abstain from it. I do this in personal walk. If there is something in my life that doesn't magnify the truth of God, i abstain from it. I believe this is dealing with sin. I believe this glorifies God when we are more concerned about His approval and not the approval of man (Paul writes about that in the first chapter of Galatians)
So, with that, I encoruage you to make it a daily discipline to examine what is REAL and to abstain from what is FAKE. By the way, it's ok to wear fake rolex watches! If you want to see them or know more about them, just ask my dad.
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