In His Study | Keep your guard up

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

“Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and honor.” Proverbs 21:21 NRSV

Too often we are inclined to believe what we see, especially in a world that emphasizes the visual. But just because our eyes seem to reveal something a certain way, it does not mean that what we perceive to be true is true.

For instance, my little friend standing beside me appears to be about 3-feettall. The sun appears to be hitting us from our right side as we stand in front of a bluish-gray background.

Well, not true. My little friend is just 2 1/2 inches tall and his image comes from a scanner which created the bluish-gray background. My image was taken from another picture and placed beside the little one to create the final picture.

We have learned that pictures often can be made to fool our eye, but what we may not realize is that almost everything can be altered in some way to make us believe what is not true. There needs to be a standard for truth in which we can always rely on.

There is! On any given subject there is a truth that will enable us to know when we are confronted with a lie. The source of this truth is God’s Word.

But it is not just a reference book. We must continually be absorbing the truth of God’s Word, daily, or we will be confronted with a lie we are not prepared for, and we will be fooled. And some lies are designed for our destruction, so there is no time for course correction once we discover the lie. We must be ready to know the difference between lie and truth beforehand.

Lies are designed to be counterfeit truth, like counterfeit currency is designed to replace true currency.

Professional currency handlers prepare to know the difference between the counterfeit and the real currency by studying real currency, not the counterfeit. They don’t confuse their minds by studying the counterfeit; they concentrate on the real thing.

God’s Word is the real thing. The Word Of Truth is our ONLY infallible guard, the only preparation that will reveal the lie when it shows up. So how are you doing? Do you have your guard up?

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Editor’s note: Jim Duncan is the pastor of Mountain Bible Church, Mountain, Mo. He may be contacted at P.O. Box 146, Pea Ridge, AR 72751; or by telephone at 417-341-8504; by e-mail at james. [email protected]. His Web site is www.jamesduncan-writer.net.

Church, Pages 2 on 03/02/2011