Don’t Be So Gullible!

Don’t Be So Gullible!

Vulnerable Women

Read: 2 Timothy 3:1-9

I can’t believe it—I’ve done it again! Rita groaned as she read the e-mail. She had been deeply moved by the story of a little girl with a large brain tumor. The girl would die without medical treatment, but her family couldn’t afford it. A well-known organization had agreed to donate seven cents each time the e-mail was forwarded. With so many names in her address book, Rita had been happy to do her part. Today, however, a friend had informed her that the story was a hoax. Rita pressed her lips together. I won’t be taken in again, she vowed.

In today’s Bible passage, Paul describes women who were susceptible to more than fake e-mails and urban legends. These spiritually immature and undisciplined women were easy targets for those who spread false teachings. They were so eager to learn, the women embraced every new idea presented to them, basing their opinions on their own emotional responses. As a result, they could not recognize the truth, and their lives were not transformed by God’s power.

As in Bible times, there are plenty of people teaching their own ideas and proclaiming them as God’s truth. It’s easy to be taken in by stories that touch our emotions and by doctrines that sound right to us. That’s why we need to evaluate new ideas against the standard of God’s Word. If a teaching directly contradicts the Bible, then we know it is false. Only a thorough knowledge of God’s Word will train us to distinguish between the real and the phony. It may be embarrassing to fall for an Internet hoax, but it’s dangerous to be gullible about spiritual truth.

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.

1 John 4:1