The Lord has also given us simple, clear instructions on how we can grow in this gift. Without it we will be increasingly subject to deception in the times to come. With it, the world and our own purpose in it will become less and less confusing and more and more clear. If we really believe that God is God, a most basic devotion of our lives should be the pursuit of knowing Him and His ways. If we believe that He created the world, then it is apparent that no one can know it better than He does. If we really believe that He is God, then we will be devoted to seeking His perspective of the world and our own lives, or we would be possibly the most basic of all fools. Certainly a barometer of our faith should be our devotion to learning of Him and from Him.
We are also promised by God that if we seek Him, we will find Him. If we seek His truth, we will find it. Possibly everyone wants the truth, but not many want it enough to actually seek it. Our devotion to truth will be reflected by the degree of this devotion.
The Bible truly is the Word of God, and I think everyone who is truly born again knows this because the Holy Spirit immediately starts to lead them to the truth. However, just as the devil tempted Adam and Eve by first attacking what God had said, the first attack of the devil on possibly every new believer is still: Did God really say that? His main strategy to cause followers of God to stumble is to get them to question what God has said. The devil will throw every argument devised over the last six thousand years to turn mankind away from God. He will hit us with many other issues such as: Why are there are so many different interpretations of the Bible, not to mention different translations? It takes an uncommon desire to know the truth to push through all of this. This is a major factor that we are told is a requirement for knowing the truthit is not just by receiving truth that we are saved, but having a love for the truth (see II Thessalonians 2:10). Those who have a true love for truth will never quit.
If we really love God, we will want to please Him, serve Him, and do His will. It is to the degree that we love Him that we will have these devotions. Jesus stated in John 7:17, “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. The most basic factor determining whether we will be able to discern truth is the willingness to do Gods will and to be obedient to the truth.
For this reason, those who come to the Lord by any other door but the cross may actually believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that He made atonement for us at the cross, but even the demons know that, and that alone will not save us. The atonement was prophesied by the Passover, and just as it would not have done Israel any good to know that the Passover would save them, they had to actually partake of it and the blood had to be applied to their doors. The same is true for us. To believe that the atonement was needed, but to not apply it to our lives is likewise a tragic delusion.
True disciples will be known by their devotion to their teachers. All Christians have other interests and other vocations, but if the primary interest and devotion of our lives is not to know and follow Jesus, then we have been duped into a pseudo-Christian life and have let the other pursuits become idols that displace Him as our main affection.
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