How to Spot a Counterfeit

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR 1 John 2:26–29 (NIV) I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. CONSIDER The best way to detect a counterfeit is not by studying counterfeits but by studying the real thing. That’s why John insists that we stick with the message we first received—day after day after day. We don’t need to be afraid of those who would try to lead us astray, but we must be aware of them. They are as active in the twenty-first century as they were in the first century. One of the marks of a maturing follower of Jesus is a humble boldness born of a deep inner conviction about what is true, which consequently gives one discernment about what is false. This comes from the Holy Spirit. But how can you know it is from the Holy Spirit and that you aren’t being self-deceived? Test your sense of discernment by the whole counsel of Scripture. Is your discernment contrary to the teaching of Scripture? Does your sense of discernment require a stretched and strained interpretation of Scripture? If so, there’s a good chance you may be opening yourself up to false teaching. False teaching can take root so easily; through sheer strength of numbers the consensus in the present can bully the truth of the past. Never mind that it flies in the face of the truth as it has always been taught and understood for hundreds if not thousands of years. Jesus gave some explicit teaching about the Holy Spirit along these lines: All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:25–26) I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. (John 16:12–15) The Holy Spirit is always doing a new thing, but revealing new truth? Not so much. PRAY Lord Jesus, I want to be formed by your Word and filled by your Spirit. Make me a person of clear discernment and gracious decisiveness. Protect me from false teachers and their teaching. I will not live in fear but by faith that your ability to lead me is greater than my inability to follow you as I need to. In your name I pray. Amen.