DON'T BE MISLED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

1 Corinthians 15:33-34

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In my line of work, people come to be for benefits advisement. When I receive calls or during in person appointments, I often here a person lead with one of three phrases:

“I heard that....”

“Somebody told me that...”

“I read on a message board that...”

They go on to tell me what they heard or read and then almost always ask the following question:

“Is that true?”

Why does someone ask that question?

Because they want the truth and seek to avoid being misled.

You see, no one likes to get false information from someone they place their trust in. It leaves feelings of violation, embarrassment, and even anger, all things a person wants to steer clear of.

A wise person validates what they are told and the things they read or hear. They don’t open themselves up to be duped or misinformed.

Today, more than ever, it’s of critical importance that we hesitate to accept everything we hear at face value, especially when receiving information from the media, the internet, or social media where falsehoods masquerade as ground truth each and every day. Misinformation and disinformation are so prevalent that we have reached a point where it’s hard to know what to believe.

So how do we avoid being led the wrong way in our thoughts, beliefs, and actions?

We turn to the Lord, the only true source of truth.

Where people are flawed and sinners, the Lord is perfectly right and righteous. He does no wrong and is incapable of telling lies. Therefore, He is completely trustworthy. When we turn to Him, we never need to question what we receive from Him, whether by way of His holy Word or Spirit.

Now, as we see in today’s passage from a few of the latter verses of 1 Corinthians 15, the problem of being deceived is not just a modern day issue. The scriptures show us the problem ranges back to first century A.D. Look again at Paul’s warning to the Corinthian Christians:

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

Be careful who you associate with.

This warning is found throughout the Bible because when we don’t exercise caution and discernment in the company we keep, we leave ourselves vulnerable to their influence and more times than not that influence will drive us to sinful actions.

We get a sense that this is indeed what had happened to members of the church in Corinth because Paul delivers a sharp order for them to come back to their senses and stop traveling down the road of iniquity. In affiliating themselves with people who were ignorant of God, some of the Corinthian Christians had become ungodly themselves and this was simply unacceptable. It was in New Testament days and it still is today.

The message from God’s word is loud and clear for His people. It’s “don’t be misled” but rather come to Me and I will show you the truth, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com