Being Tossed To and Fro? The Way to Steady Yourself

Every one may not be as bad as his fellow man. But he has the tendency and potentiality to be fully bad. In spite of all that is happening in the world, we clearly see that man is a moral being. He is concerned about good and bad in human character. He frames rules for morality and wants to live by those. ‘Conscience’ a person’s keeper, the sense of what is right and what is wrong, is the key agent which causes concern in him for morality. So far as his desire is concerned things appear to be all right. It is in keeping morals in his everyday life he finds himself wanting. It is so very conspicuous that human conduct is not up to the expectations of general morality. There appears a conflict between the standard set in his mind and his ability to live according to the standard. As a result of continuous conflict he settles down to a notion that calls the gap a lapse, an error, a failure or at the most a mistake. However lightly we may treat the gap, its consequence in human life looks disastrous. Paul says, ‘There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.’ (2 Ti 3:1-5) The Bible calls a spade a spade. So it calls the gap SIN. The Bible says that punishment for sin is death.

At a time when man is in desperate need of a saviour to redeem him from the punishment for sin, God reveals His plan of salvation and commits this good news to men, the disciples of Jesus Christ, to announce it to the whole world. There is good reason for enthusiasm in those who have understood God's plan of salvation and who have received the good news. Paul calls this Good News 'justification by faith.' Paul employs a legal term ‘justification’, which a judge uses to declare an accused not guilty. The Judge says, ‘you are acquitted you are set free’. He says that the basis is the blood of His son Jesus Christ. According to Paul, this is the Good News – the Gospel. (Ro 3:26). He lays down a condition for appropriating this acquittal. The condition is faith. It is faith in the completed work of God. (Gal 2:16).

You turned to God. You set your eyes on Jesus and the good news. You received the Gospel. You know for sure that you are saved. Praise God! You long to go closer and closer to God. You look for help all around you. This is the experience of every believer who is saved by His grace. Various teachings on the Bible come handy to all. Here, now, a bit of caution. Jesus asks His disciples to be on guard against the teachings of Pharisees and Sadducees. Paul says that every teaching that comes handy is not safe as cunning and crafty men could be behind it. He says in Ephesians that we need not be tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. (Eph. 4:14). How do they do it? Is it by bringing teaching which is not in the Bible? No. They know you will surely detect. How then? They pick one or two sentences out of context to evolve their pet teaching. They make believers doubt time tested doctrines. They use one or two incidents related to one or two characters in the Bible. They leave one part of the story or connect unrelated events and challenge the believers. They know that well meaning believers fall into their trap if scripture is shown to them. You have good intentions. But they have set intentions to impose their teaching on you. Your intentions come to no effect when you receive their teaching. You need to have sound teaching to be able to detect and reject any false teaching that comes your way.

You can obtain sound teaching only when you know the ways in which you are to understand your Bible. There are essential doctrines that we need to hold on to. Further, there are pairs of truth in the Bible in which each one complements the other. You understand the implications of each one only when you study the other. You have also before you different characters in the Bible with different kinds of experience. You can choose to have experiences according to your situation. Moreover, the Holy Spirit dispenses God's grace through various means. False teaching may take the form of confining believers to only one means of grace. This is an error of proportions. It is God’s desire that you should be nourished well so that you grow from strength to strength to be able to work in His vineyard. Now, you can identify some of the winds of teaching which toss you back and forth so that you can hold on to sound teaching which can lead you through.