Have you ever thought about why people go after false teachings, religions, and are blown about, as Scripture says, by every wind of doctrine? There are a few reasons, but it all comes down to not being Anchored in God’s word, and within the body of Christ. In Ephesians chapter 4 (read below), Paul calls for both unity and maturity in Christ that we may walk in the newness of Christ, not as we did in the ways of the world. There is so much division, so much strife, so many false teachings gaining popularity for two reasons: we do not care for the Word, and we do not care for one another in seeking Unity.
The word keeps us tuned in, as it were, to God’s will. It’s why Paul tells us not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we might test the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). We may know what the will of God is if we are in the Word of God. The 66 books of the Bible written over 1500 years by 40 different authors on 3 continents in three languages all have the same unifying message, and all point to the sufficiency of and need for Christ. Being anchored into God’s word keeps us focused on the things of God, and our traditions, mannerisms and “how we do things” seem to melt to the wayside in comparison to God’s will for us. As the Psalmist said, “your word is a light unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).
Staying unified keeps us on mission, but also draws us back to Christ. The author of Ecclesiastes speaks to this idea of how two are not easily cold or overcome (see Ecclesiastes 4). James ends his epistle on this subject:
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)
Satan’s first recorded act of rebellion was to divide man from his wife and from his Creator. Division leads to death. When we stand together in Christ, life, ultimately, gets better, even if circumstances don’t.
So here’s my question: are you anchored? Are you daily in God’s word? Are you meeting regularly with His people, and not merely for church, but to love and build one another up? This keeps us grounded in Him: as we know the promises of God through the Scriptures, and as we walk together in them daily. Otherwise, we run the risk of running astray. Ephesians 4
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,and he gave gifts to men.”
(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
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