1 Thessalonians 5:21

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. KJV

When I first got into ministry, I was hungry to learn. I wanted to grow and be the minister and leader that God had called me to be. Of course, I studied my bible, but I also read behind people I expected to learn from. I remember receiving one magazine on leadership that I’d ordered. I was so excited! I began to devour it one article at a time. As I read, my excitement turned into great discouragement. This particular leadership magazine had many articles written by different contributors. In the very same magazine, many articles directly contradicted one another. I went in expecting to learn, only to grow more confused!

This is the state of the world today, and sadly much of the church. There are many voices speaking many different messages. How do you know what is right and what is wrong? How do you know what to receive and what to reject? If you receive the wrong direction, it will take you in the wrong direction.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” The word “prove” means “to test, examine, or scrutinize to see whether a thing is genuine or not.” We are to test everything and hold onto what is good! What is good is God and what is right is his word! We are to test everything in light of the Word of God! 

Laura Leigh and I bought a home one time that needed fixing up. One of the things we noticed is that it was dirty! There was dust caked on everything from the ceiling to the floors. I had seen dirty houses, but not to this degree. What was the problem? Were the former owners just poor house cleaners? The people themselves were not the problem. The problem was that they had decided that they didn’t need a/c filters for the air conditioner. Without a filter, the unit simply sucked in every impurity and pushed it through the house! Nothing that contaminated was caught because nothing was filtered!

Don’t allow your house (your heart and mind) to be contaminated due to having no filter! Whatever is presented to you in any form, filter it through God’s word! He will never lead you wrong!