Test the Truth and “Truth”
Finding the truth in situations can be tough some times. Thankfully God gives us His word to point us true North. Robert gives us practical ways to remind our kids to know what is true…
Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. 1 Thess 5:20-22
One day in kindergarten my daughter came home and said a friend told her that, “I have never told a lie!” My daughter was a little skeptical and rightly so. I told her if she bought that then I had some ocean front property in Arizona that I would sell her. She didn’t get the reference.
When our kids are young the lies are little easier to pick out that are circulating around the lunch room. But as they get older they become much more dubious and much more tempting to swallow. Therefore we must teach our children to rightly discern truth.
Let’s look at our passage in 1 Thessalonians where Paul teaches the church how to be wise when hearing people speak supposed truth (prophecy) in the church and see what we can apply.
- Test Them All – Now more than ever lies are masquerading as truth right under our fingertips. The internet, while an excellent source of information, has become a megaphone for everyone to speak on every issue with “authority”. We often succumb to the delusion that because someone had the strict credentials to start a blog page (note the sarcasm) they must be speaking with authority. We would be wise to teach our children to test everything they find online or in class (because it probably originated from the internet anyway). Snopes is a great watchdog website exposing fallacies circulating the Web.
- Hold On to What is Good – When it comes to information concerning God the best defense is a good offense. The Secret Service trains its agents to spot counterfeit money by studying the real thing. Instead of being experts on all the fakes, they are strenuously committed to the original. Parents we need to teach our children the entire counsel of God’s Word. Spend daily time with your children committing to knowing the Scriptures. Deut 6:4-9 reminds us of this responsibility. If the Bible truly is the inspired Word of God, then it stands above everything else as the standard of truth.
- Reject Every Kind of Evil – Sometimes we think simply identifying a problem is enough to keep us from being affected by it. If my house starts stinking and I find the culprit is a skunk living under my back porch, have I solved the problem? No Way! Labeling the stench a rogue polecat doesn’t make it any better. I have to get rid of it. The idea that we can consume various forms of media or maintain company that continues to leak falsehood and not be affected by it is near-sighted. Prov 13:20 teaches us otherwise. We need to demonstrate the practice of rejecting and removing the lies we subject ourselves to. Identify the lies about body image, sexuality, self-centeredness and fear that daily invade our lives and bid them farewell.
Camper Corner:
What lies do you know are lies, but find yourself continuing to listen to? How can you get rid of them?
