Second Hand Food

Thursday, April 3, 2008

I had the opportunity yesterday to join with a group of men at my church for a men's fellowship class. Our discussion led us through several topics but the one thing that stuck in my head more than anything else was what one of the leaders of my Sunday school class said. He told us not to rely on second hand food to feed our soul.

What did he mean by this? Devotional books and websites are fantastic, they allow the Christian to tap into insight that another person might have found while studying the Word. However, as good as a devotion might be you can never depend entirely on another person to provide you with the spiritual food. No, I'm not trying to talk my way out of a job, but I think that this revelation is important.

How are we to know when someone is giving us a correct interpretation of the word of God? Do we take everyone at face value? NO, we are taught in scripture that there will be false prophets bringing a perverted version of the word. Truths will be twisted and made to sound correct. Look no further than the prince of lies himself, Satan. When he was tempting Jesus in the wilderness he misquoted scripture. The only way that you can learn to discern whether a teaching is biblical or not is to know your Bible. The only way to truly know your Bible is, well, you have to read it.

So tonight I ask you not to stop reading the devotion, but in addition to reading what I have to say please, please put your priority on reading what God has to say. I would never intentionally write anything that would lead you astray or bring an incorrect word. However I can never say anything better than The Good Book said it in the first place. Spend some time in your Bible and then look to see what your fellow man has pulled out of the text. The blessing you will receive is two-fold: piece of mind that what you read is true and also being better equipped to testify yourself.