Be A Berean

Today we are talking about being like the Jews of Berea. When we go through the book of Acts in the Bible we come across chapter 17 verse 11 which describes these jews as being more fair minded than those of Thessalonica. How did they get this description you might be wondering and I’ll tell yah. They got it because they were more willing to listen to the preaching of Paul and Silas and instead of simply casting them out of the synagogue. These jews chose to search the scriptures for themselves to see if they were telling the truth. It’s because they actually knew the word of God that they were able to accept Paul and Silas’ ministry.

So what’s so profound about this verse that I have made it the focus of today’s thought? The profoundness is in how they “Bible Checked” the preacher to make sure he wasn’t just barking them up the wrong tree with legalisms or lack thereof. Or worse, was just spouting off his own falsehoods, passing them off as though they were truth like what happened in the Roman Catholic church pre-protestant reformation and Martin Luther. That group of Jews were willing to listen but they also compared it to what was written.

I find this to be gravely important since in our current era there are many people out there working to influence the way we think and feel about subjects. It can be an opinion that doesn’t matter in the long run like what flavor of icecream is best. Or subjects that have a great impact on the course of society such as debating the type of moral standard a country should have and how a country should use one type of political system over another. I doubt anyone will be surprised by my next few words but it’s that I wanted to be one of those voices. I wanted to make my own commentary on society to be heard because I felt there weren’t enough open Christian influencers who hadn’t compromised their beliefs.  

However, God didn’t want me to focus on criticizing society; rather He wanted me to write with a focus on scripture and applying it to life. If you’ve been reading these since day one then you will know that I do write some things commenting on society. But that’s not my priority in writing and now more recently podcasting. Those times that I’ve done societal commentary have been purely under the guidance of Holy Spirit as there were certain things He needed me to tell those who would listen. What Jesus wants me to do is to work as a constant reminder about how important it is to know scripture and to have an active relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 

Paul wrote to many churches over his life to instruct and guide them in faith. One church which he wrote several letters to was the one in Corinth. Scholars say that he wrote a total of 4 letters to that church but we only have the two letters in the new testament because they were more detailed and profound in dealing with the issues of that particular church. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 is about the spiritual warfare that we are involved in as Christians and the highlight is found in verses 3 through 5.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 

(2nd Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV)

But that “knowledge of God” which Paul tells us of can only come from being with God in constant communion and through study of His word. From our relationship we receive access to the gifts of the spirit which are activated in us for the specific purpose of bringing glory to the Lord. There are many gifts but at this moment we are going to look at three specific ones that are most often used in these circumstances. These are the gifts of insight, knowledge, and wisdom. 

Insight can be understood as being able to spiritually read into a situation and recognize what is going on. Thus you react in different ways or change something in your life and it has all of the difference of outcome.

Knowledge is when God feeds you directly information that you shouldn’t in any way know. I have experienced this once to my knowledge; when John Bevere came to speak at a men’s conference in 2020 he offered for people to sign up to be part of his launch team for his newest book “X: Multiply Your God Given Potential.” When the work was done it was celebrated with a group meeting via zoom and he spoke about how we need to pray about the message and for it to go out to the people. When he mentioned prayer warriors I was one of two names mentioned and the two of us have had no interaction with each other. That wasn’t just him naming names as they showed up on screen but the Holy Spirit guiding the names he was to choose. Showing him things about people that he didn’t otherwise know.

Wisdom is similar to the gift of knowledge but it’s when we are enabled to speak something profound into the life of another without always intending to do so. King Solomon had this gift and was able to impart so much wisdom to us through this for the purpose of helping others live godly, righteous, and even prosperous lives. I’m not a believer in the prosperity gospel which summarily says “Christians will never suffer or undergo any trials but have all of their wants and desires met if they follow God’s way” but when I say prosperity I mean that we will not need to worry in the way others do. 

These gifts are especially important for those who seek the Lord because there are so many voices that will speak with the confidence of one who speaks truth. Many of these voices speak partial truths saying what others want to hear or they might simply say a falsehood as though it were true for they are simply deceived. And then there are those who actively try to deceive us into thinking the wrong way or intimidate us from speaking the truth boldly.

For instance those who try to convince us against all facts that surgically changing your body to look like a woman when you are a man makes you a woman. Or those who say that you are an oppressor to others just because of your skin color when you have done anything like that to others. 

All of these voices and ideas can and will be silenced when you choose to focus your thoughts on scripture and the truth therein. The silence which shall come is one where even though we hear the falsehoods we haven’t let them have authority in our mind. Becoming like a spiritual white noise that is indistinguishable and overpowered. You may very well hear individual voices make their way out of the background but they don’t won’t have any right to influence you unless you give it to them. Knowing the truth returns to you the authority to control what stays and what leaves returning to the white noise.

Your stalwart determination will affect others just as the opinions of others affect you. Some may indeed find your willingness to stand on the truth offensive and obtrusive to them. Then so be it. When darkness and falsehood are loved in a society then those who speak truth will be scorned but they will also be lauded by the others who are too afraid to stand as you are doing. It will most likely be praise that you don’t hear or receive but know that The Lord sees and that He hears when you cry out to Him. When you spew forth the lamentations of your sufferings know that it is not ignored as you pray expressing your grief and sorrow.

As I finish this off today I want to say that this life isn’t easy but it’s worth it. So until next time, courage and Godspeed.