Read: 2 Corinthians 11: 3-4
“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.” - Ephesians 4:14
The tension on a kite string
keeps it soaring aloft. As the triangle of heavy paper or light plastic fights
against the wind currents, the taught string anchors it safely to the ground.
Once the string breaks, however, the kite drifts aimlessly back to earth,
unguided and at the mercy of any wind stream in the vicinity.
It may get stuck in a tree,
sink in a river or the sea, land in someone else’s backyard, or it might even
drift so far away that we never see it again. Though we search for days, we may
never find it.
Human beings have the same
tendency to break away from the normal restrictions of life. We entertain such
lofty ideals that we feel invincible (John 4:6). We reject friendly advice (Proverbs
11:14) and go off on a tangent that
seems right to us at the time. We often end up lost, lonely, unproductive and
scared, because in reality some of us love our sin more than we love God.
Rather than taking this
opportunity to repent and to turn back toward God, we often turn even further
away from Him to other forms of sin. We justify our behavior, although our
actions go against known Biblical teaching. We deceive ourselves into thinking
that we have perfect peace from God about what we are doing.
All of us, in every walk of
life and every stage of spiritual growth fall into this deception at one time
or another. None of us are exempt from it. Satan is right there taking
advantage of our weakened state, whispering his lies and cloaking his deception
with justifiable excuses. He gives us his false peace in our heart and
encourages us to sink even deeper into deplorable sin that has no limit.
Thankfully, Jesus keeps
every Born Again believer safely anchored in Himself. We suddenly find our
spirit convicted by God’s great grace and loving kindness. Looking in the mirror,
we ask our self, “What are you thinking?” We suddenly find our spirit convicted
by God’s great grace and loving kindness (Romans 2:4).
As we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee
from us (James 4:7).
If we immerse our spirit in the
mandates in His Word, they hinder us from running after every wind of doctrine
and the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 13:3). We
often strain and buck and pull against the parameters of His grace (Acts
9:5), but He keeps us tightly fixed and
protected from following our own carnal desires and illogical thinking for very
long.
When we finally quit trying
to go our own way, we learn to rest on the drifts of the Spirit and to float in
the warming rays of the Son. His strength is made perfect in
our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We live securely in the fact that the Father holds us
firmly in the palm of His hands. He gave us His eternal life, and we will never
perish (John 10: 28).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, keep us in the
center of Your will, though we strain to break the ties that bind. Keep us ever
mindful of Your love and wrap us in Your tender arms of grace and mercy. We
draw near to You and resist the devil so that he will flee from us. We remember
you mercy and love and follow hard after You. Thought for the Day:
In your search for individuality, never stray from the straight and narrow road.
