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Sunday, January 23, 2011"Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD."-Joshua 24:14
How many times have we all heard it said to “just be sincere”? Whether it’s in regard to a person’s religion or the convictions they establish within that religion, it doesn’t seem to matter anymore exactly what you believe just so long as you believe it well. Yet despite our culture’s tendency to validate any person’s belief as long as they are sincere about it, the Bible tells us in many different places that the only way sincerity will count is if it’s founded upon the truth.
“Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”-Romans 10:1-3
In this passage of Scripture, Paul explained to us one of the fundamental problems he saw in the Jewish community of that day: though they were indeed zealous, their zeal was not “according to knowledge.” While they were very passionate and sincere in their beliefs, just as many in our culture are today, they were terribly misguided in the essence of what they believed and, unfortunately, were sincerely wrong. However commendable their zeal may have been, it was not a solid enough foundation to build their lives upon (1 Corinthians 3:11). As it was said by Joshua, we must serve the Lord in both sincerity and in truth!
“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.”
-Ephesians 6:24
Christ reminded us in Matthew 22:37-38 that the greatest commandment in Scripture is to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind. This is the greatest type of zeal one can possess, for it is founded, not upon man’s wisdom, but in Christ. Such sincerity is by no means misguided.
5 comments:
No way! My pastor talked about this today. I actually wrote it down... "The world says, 'It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you really BELIEVE.' Well what kind of dribble is that? That is DELUSIONAL, irrational thinking. What you believe translates into what you DO. What you believe makes all the difference. And you say, 'Mark, aren't you afraid of offending people?' GAG ME. Jesus said people WILL be offended by the Gospel."
This is such a lie in our culture today.
Good topic today. And you are correct when you point out that sincerity is not enough. After all, it is perfectly possible to be sincerely WRONG!
As St. Paul wrote in Ephesians, the critical thing is to "speak the truth in love" - that is the litmus test. Have a good day - Marsha
Nice job!! Thanks for inviting me to your world, Dakota. Blessings and thanks for stopping by "my back porch" :)
Wendy
Thanks for you comment! I will look forward to reading your devotions. :-)
That's why Jesus was always telling everybody "see that you be not deceived"
This world is full of the traps of deception,and staying in his word and being sensitive to His Spirit, will keep us from falling into them.
Being sincere isn't enough. We must be born-again with His indwelling Holy Spirit,guiding us through all of that deception,every day.
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