Since many Jews did not believe that Jesus was Who He said He was, Paul worked very hard to use the Scriptures to reason with them, so that they could come to an understanding that Paul too was once blinded from. Paul was confident because he had encountered the resurrected Saviour and Jesus had completely changed Paul’s life, so he diligently shared with others, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” (ref. Acts 17:3).
While some of the people in Thessalonica believed, a jealous group rallied together creating havoc, in order to get rid of Paul and Silas. “That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scripture day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the Truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.” – Acts 17:10-12 (NLT)
The Bereans stood out from others; in that they were willing to hear something new from what they’d heard before and they listened respectfully… but what they did with the words that they heard is what makes them notable, and examples for us. They took the time – day after day – to see if the message they were given aligned with the Scriptures, to determine if the message was Truthful.
Evaluating what is true is a spiritual discipline that the Church greatly benefits from. It’s one thing to be open-minded when we’re listening to others, but we need to be careful about what we allow to sink into our soul as truth. We live in a culture where people are manipulated by what feels good to them based on their swayed emotions – sin also manipulates us in the same way. We need to be able to differentiate between relative truth and absolute Truth. Paul warned Timothy about this in 2 Timothy 4:3: “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”
As Christ followers, The Bible is our guide for what is Truth. We can’t call ourselves Christians and not believe in the inspired Word of God – afterall, Jesus is the Word incarnate. He is the only Way, the only absolute Truth, and the only way to experience abundant Life. His Spirit in us, leads us into all Truth. He will never contradict the Word that He’s spoken. If we believe this, then we need to evaluate what is true in the same format that the Bereans did – diligently testing the words that we hear with what is written in Scripture, in order to make an informed decision of what we’ll receive and what we’ll reject. SO much is at stake because the enemy is after our minds, our children, our families, our friends…. the enemy stops at nothing as he steals, kills and destroys, and he's looking to destroy our belief in what's True. But in the face of the enemy's schemes our greatest weapon is the Truth.
May we be women who are persistent at filtering everything through the Truth of Jesus – the living, breathing active Word of God.
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