Wednesday, November 27, 2019

November 27



”As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor." (Ecclesiastes 10:1 NIV)

It was a very dry summer that year. The water shortage became increasingly difficult. Several municipalities had imposed watering bans, and doing so was quite rare in Sweden. Then came the reports that a catastrophe had occurred in several locations. Salt water had entered and mixed with groundwater. The clean clear groundwater had been infiltrated and made unusable.
The reports were serious reminders of what happens when the Christian life is mixed with influences from what is un-clean - when human thinking begins to out-compete and rule over God's true Word.
 The most serious threat to Christian faith is perhaps not the great heresies. These are readily available and can be easily identified. Unfortunately, the small deviations from the truth - the ‘dead flies’ may cause the whole doctrine of losing its freshness.
An old proverb says ‘a tiny rock can make the mighty stumble’. The message is the same as in today's scripture. It does not take large doses of evil for everything to be hurt. The sweetest fragrance can be turned into a slight stench of ‘poison fly’ as it says in an old Bible translation.

Prayer
Jesus, help me to listen carefully so that I can appreciate your pure clear Word. Give me discernment so that I can decide what comes from You and what are human inventions.

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