As believers, we are taught to be careful of what we let into our minds, and rightly so. What we ponder has the power to influence our lives for better or for worse. However, while an attitude of vigilance or attentiveness is necessary, often what we are motivated by is just plain fear. We are afraid of being led into error by false teachers and false prophets and false doctrine… you get the idea. Our fear of the false sometimes seems to be greater than our hunger for the truth.
Fear is from the enemy. It is the tactic he uses to keep us from reaching our full potential in Christ. God has so designed His church that each part supplies something that the others need for their growth and maturity. The church when functioning properly is like a delicately balanced ecosystem where each part supplies a need and each person/assembly is in some way connected and dependant on the others. The big challenge is that for this to work, we need to be open to receiving from people that are different.
I’m talking about people from different churches or different denominations or just someone who sees God differently than we do. Most of us are possessed with a peculiar type of arrogance that leads us to believe that we have THE truth or that our church is THE best or that our denomination’s doctrinal stance is THE right one or that our interpretation of scripture is THE right interpretation. Viewed through those lenses, anything different is dangerous, false, and possibly even heretic.
This is the enemy’s playground. He has us right where he wants us; steeped in self-righteousness, viewing all ‘others’ with suspicion and judgment. “Don’t listen to him, he’s not from our church!” “Don’t read that, it’s from another denomination!” “They are new age!” “She is a liberal Christian!” Religious leaders feed this nonsense as they sling mud at each other either in a mistaken belief that they are protecting the flock or in a perverted desire to keep their congregational numbers.
I propose that no person or church has perfect theology (a highly probable proposition since no person is perfect). I further propose that every Christian and every denomination has something that we need in order to be complete in Christ. To access this treasure that God has put in earthly vessels it is prerequisite that we are open to being influenced by others who think differently to us.
I am not saying that we believe and receive anything that anyone feeds us, but I am saying that we need to be willing to listen, willing to be wrong and willing to change. Guarding ourselves from error is not accomplished by isolating ourselves from different views or placing our trust blindly in our pastor or priest to keep us on the right track. This is actually the formula for deception and cultic tendencies! At some point in every believer’s life, something erroneous is going to come from the pulpit and if the believer has not been training his/her discernment muscle, he/she will be deceived. Avoiding deception has less to do with only receiving from one human source and more to do with receiving personal guidance from the Heavenly Source.
Counterintuitively, we are kept on the path of truth by exercising our mind and spirit regularly through being led by the Spirit as we walk through life, discerning from the buffet of offerings that are displayed along our path. You will encounter pathways that lead away from Christ but you will also encounter pathways that lead to a deeper dimension of God. It could be in the form of a book, a podcast or a visit to a friend’s church. Only the Holy Spirit, the One entrusted to lead you into all truth, knows the path you ought to take.
Don’t let fear trap us in a life of stagnant immaturity where we are turned inward, protecting the little flame clutched in our hands. Instead, let Christ lead us into a life lived expansively, openly, shining our light and receiving from others until our compounded conflagration sets this world ablaze with the glory of God!
