Growing in HopeSample

Knowing the Truth

Paul tells us that God has given His servants to the church. We don’t have the space here to go into great detail about each of the kinds of servants that are mentioned in this week’s passage. For now, we will touch on the servants who are pastors and teachers. 

God has called and gifted pastors and teachers to be spiritual leaders for His people. Pastors and teachers are given to serve other Jesus followers by teaching them God’s truth, with the intent of training them to become disciple makers. Pastors and teachers should speak and teach directly from the Bible, which is the Word of God, and they should never contradict it! The teaching of God’s Word through pastors and teachers helps you and me, as followers of Jesus, to grow in our relationship with God and to walk in obedience to Him.

The teaching of God’s word helps build us up and grow us into spiritual maturity. Paul uses the phrase “no longer to be children” as an analogy. We are to grow up and mature spiritually, instead of remaining immature in our faith. If we don’t grow up spiritually, we may fall prey to being tricked and deceived, through our lack of knowledge of the Word of God. It is imperative that we learn from pastors and teachers who speak from the Word of God. It is also crucial that we do not rely solely on their teachings, but that we read God’s Word for ourselves. 

In Hebrews 5:13, we read that as we grow spiritually, we will be able to distinguish the difference between good and evil. There are many forms of evil and false teachings in the world. The best way for you to identify a lie is to know the Truth. In banking, tellers are not trained to know all the different forms of counterfeit money… that would be impossible! They are trained to know what real money looks and feels like. Then, no matter what counterfeit money comes into their hands, they can tell it is counterfeit because they are so familiar with the way real money looks and feels.

Today, I challenge you to begin to desire more of the Truth from God’s Word. Read it. Memorize it. When a pastor or teacher tells you something, always check God’s Word to confirm that what they are telling you is the Truth.

Prayer:
Lord, Thank You for speaking Truth to me through the Bible. As I read it, I ask that You help me understand it and live it out. Help me to be so familiar with it, that it becomes buried deep within my heart, that I may follow You confidently and be able to recognize a teaching that is counterfeit to Your Word. Protect my heart and mind from being deceived, and teach me to live according to Your Truth alone. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.