Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Wednesday,
You and I live in a world where it is increasingly difficult to discern if what you hear or even see is factual, truthful or some level of distortion! I wonder how often you find yourself faced with needing help in discerning the difference…is it real or artificial intelligence? Maybe more important is discerning if something is helpful to your character development or deceptively drawing you into the darkness?
Did you know that while sophisticated marketing and AI was not even imagined 2000 years ago, the apostle Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to challenge the Christians in crazy Corinth, to develop mature discernment skills! Why? Because they were being confronted by false teachers presenting distortions of the truth which could lead them down very dangerous paths toward rejecting God’s reliable truth and embracing diabolical deceit, which could cost them their very lives!
Yesterday, we began looking at Paul’s warnings and today let’s continue in 2 Corinthians 3:16 because they are so very relevant: “Whenever anyone TURNS TO the Lord Jesus Christ, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor. 3:16,17)
What veil? Yesterday we looked at the veil of our natural, human sin-nature; the veil of darkness of the world we live in; and the veil of demonic blinding. (2 Cor. 4:4) Do you see the action Paul urges? What action? TURN TO Jesus? Of course that implies TURNING AWAY from that which draws you away from Jesus! But that requires discernment, doesn’t it?
Do you also see that Paul puts NO prerequisites upon the person who will be given Holy Spirit discernment and be delivered from being deceived into darkness bondage? No special education required, no minimum age requirement, no limitations on ethnicity or gender. Any person can seek and receive Holy Spirit given wisdom and discernment, to make the clear distinction between spiritual and moral TRUE and FALSE.
This is but one of the MANY great spiritual works of the Holy Spirit available to EVERY authentic Christ follower! I say AVAILABLE because God will NOT force His holiness upon His people. (1 Peter 1:14,15) The priority question is: how is your appetite for truth and your hunger for the Spirit to develop your discernment muscle? But also, what about your appetite for the latest popular social media craze even as Halloween approaches? Oh my, we need to be very wise in seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance and filtering out the distortions, do we understand that? And how are we helping our kids and grandkids with their discernment muscle development in their information overload world?
Paul continued: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit of God.” (2 Cor. 3:18) Do you see the link between having the blinding veil removed from our minds, and fixing our thoughts and our eyes on Jesus, and all His Holiness and Glory? Do you also see that as we contemplate the glory of Jesus the Holy Spirit will actively transform us more and more into HIS image, His holiness! Pause. This is very big, my friends. This is character and discernment development. This is vital to survival in an increasingly dark and deceptive world.
Watch this now: The transformation of your soul is happening constantly, did you know that? Either you are being drawn deeper into the distorted, deceitful world of darkness, or you are working closely with the Holy Spirit to develop your moral character and spiritual discernment muscle. (Rom. 12:2) Which is it? There is NO moral and spiritual stagnation. Our minds and hearts are constantly absorbing information, developing opinions and leading our lives either toward God or away from Him.
Can you discern, AT ANY MOMENT IN TIME, which direction your soul is leading you? Is the Holy Spirit refining you more and more to be like Jesus? Or is the world in which you live, no matter where you live, drawing you slowly into self-destructive darkness? (1 John 2:15-17) The apostle John wrote it this way: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them…” This is important friends, because it challenges us to seriously consider and identify anything we do that might defile or distract our minds from our focus on Jesus!
One of the greatest challenges people around the world face today is protecting their minds and hearts from images and information that will draw them away from Jesus. Most people spend vast amounts of time in front of screens and almost everything on those screens is NOT helpful to nurturing a God loving, God honoring SOUL. The battle rages, yet most people are oblivious victims to the dark kingdom enslaving them to entertainment and information that increasingly defiles God’s truth and God’s glory. Pause. How are you doing with this daily, hourly, moment by moment battle?
Hear Paul’s words again… and decide as we close today. Embrace these words, or ignore them: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit of God.” (2 Cor. 3:18)
The ‘lessons learned’ study notes will be very helpful to you in wrestling with these important truths today and a great Charity Gayle song will draw you to celebrate the Glory of God. And let’s meet here again tomorrow, ok?
Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:16-18; 1 John 2:15-17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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1 John 2:15-17
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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