”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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