Ensign: Pass The Test

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.            Isaiah 18:3

 

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS                                                  22 April 2016

 

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone into the world.”  John’s first letter is a restatement of the key points in living a Christian life.  While we have to be receptive to whatever call God has for our lives, even when we don’t agree with Him, we are not condemned for asking why this specific call.  The verse quoted above, 1 John 4:1, tells us three things.  Not every call on our time (in the life of the church, ”not every spirit”) has equal validity, not every test of God’s Word (“try the spirits”) is a sign of our unfaithfulness, and not every person (“many false persons”) who claims the name of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit is acting on their behalf. 

 

So how do we become more discerning, how do we hold our Christian convictions in light of the thousand and one demands made on our time?  We need to understand that God has placed gifts into each of us, sometimes more than one, sometimes not.  And to understand that, we have to realize “there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh in all.” (1 Corinthians 12:6)  In the twelfth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we’re taught that one gift is not more valuable than another because all the gifts together – and all the people who have them – function in one body, much like your eyes and ears and the parts of your own body function in one body.  “If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?  If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?” 

 

We may be asked to come out of our comfort zone, but we won’t be asked to come out of our skill zone.  Someone not musically inclined (like myself) is not likely to be asked to compose or sing Handel’s Messiah.  Someone who works in building construction is not likely to be called to a sit-down desk job.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do better or do more, but we also have to want that additional ability for the right reasons.  Without a spirit of charity (love in newer Bible translations), without the desire to have God work through us to help others, we’ll do no good for anyone.  That’s when we have to test the spirits.  If they pass, so will we when we’re in God’s will.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

David  

 

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book and I hope to be an encourager too!  If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!

 

We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us!  Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world. 

 

Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either. 

 

Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad.  Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son.  And may we all seek and have a blessed week!  Amen.