How good are you at identifying what is good and what is evil? On a scale of 1-10 (10 being really adept) how would you rate yourself? How would you rate yourself in comparison to say...
...the Apostle Peter?
" And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." Mark 8:27-29
I think there are times where like Peter we think we are pretty good at discerning the truth about what is good. Let's look at what happens immediately afterwards.
"And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." Mark 8:31-33
Perhaps we are not as good at it as we think we are!
"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:14
The truth is that only those who have trained in godliness (I Tim 4:7) and had constant practice with applying the Word of God to their daily decisions are mature. A regular diet of the solid food the Bible provides is necessary for these mature discerners of truth. Are you maturing? Are you training? What are you eating? I think for most of us it's time to do a healthy evaluation of our diet. What you feed your soul is largely what you will become. Do we feed it truth via God's Word? Do we mainly feed it culture via movies, tv, entertainment? Do we knowingly feed it outright lies? Do we feed it whatever gains us approval with our friends? I don't know about you, but I'm convicted. I'm hungry for some good food. How about you?
"I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread." Job 23:12
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