And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
We tend, I think, to glamorize the wise men for seeking Jesus, and well we should.
But an interesting element in the context is how much trouble seeking Him caused. No wonder Joseph and Mary hadn’t gone around the country announcing Jesus and inviting people to attend services in their home. At this point, Jesus and His family were vulnerable.
- They hadn’t put up signs pointing to Christ
- The wise men were warned not to return to Herod and make Christ known to Him
- Joseph was immediately warned to flee with Christ to another country
Evangelism is necessary and good work. But discretion and discernment are also Biblical practices. We’ve lived in such peace for two centuries that we’ve lost the sense of discretion. We just “bring ’em all in” and trust God to protect us if some of them turn out to be wolves. No one has to “creep in unawares” into modern churches. For all practical purposes, they are welcome.
And it has been to our hurt. If they haven’t caused physical harm in a church, they have certainly caused spiritual damage as doctrines have been compromised to accommodate these growing numbers of welcomed attendees who have less than sincere motives for being among us.
Baptist believers of previous centuries were adept at both evangelizing and discretion. It’s a spiritual skill we need to hone once again.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824
For this and, more than 5600 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.
If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.
My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org
No comments:
Post a Comment