Taste Test?

… but test everything; hold fast what is good…
(1 Thessalonians 5:21 – ESV)

We need to expose a way of thinking that is a major problem for people who think they are discerning, but aren't, at least not in the right way. They will be and have been caught up in nonsense. It is not that I or we haven't, but we are supposed to grow in discernment skills, not always just try things, and whatever seems good, or opens up, we think that this must be God. The pragmatic yardstick is no true measure of spiritual godliness or God’s will. Just because something seems to work or it fits some criteria you are looking for doesn’t mean it is right, you need to truly know what to look for. This applies not only to spiritual matters.

Discernment isn’t simply applying a “trial and error” approach to everything. What happens when you try too much poison? Discernment is trying by testing, not simply tasting. You learn what you are looking for before you take it in. You stack the thing up, not pack it all in and see what tastes good, thinking you can spit out the rest. That is the problem, we haven’t learned to test and so we swallow things and we don’t know what is good or bad. They say, “eat the cherry, spit out the pit”, or “eat the meat, spit out the bones” but they don’t know the difference, they are proving that by all the things they swallow, that is the point in the first place! It is obvious they don’t discern the difference, which is why we have to keep telling them.

The problem is people are looking for the wrong things and that is why their testing is all fouled up. Their testing methodology always remains the same, their feelings, their impressions, their carnal understanding, and their limited knowledge of scripture that they cling to as some kind of a formula for blessing when they ought to be growing. They are using the Bible like a magic book, a ritualistic resource, an encyclopedia or how-to manual, or some “self-help on steroids” guide. They are not actually committed to the Word of God as the authority. They are not growing in their skilled, properly understood use of it, and they keep looking for their “fix” somewhere else.

They are not fully digesting the Word of God, and so they are not learning to be exercising their powers of discernment. People are thinking they have some crunchy cuisine but they are actually choking on the bones. Others seem to turn off their spiritual sense of smell and just dig in. Don’t just “close your nose”; if something smells foul, don’t eat it.

Look at Hebrews 5:11-14 – we cannot handle the meat because we are not even skilled with the milk! Reason of use (Hebrews 5:14 – KJV) doesn’t mean tasting it means you learn how to be testing. Those that have become mature have their perceptions trained by practice. Romans 12:2… that by testing you may discern what is the will of God…1 John 4:1…test the spirits to see whether they are from God… You cannot just put things to the “taste test” if you don’t know what you are looking for.

Many people say, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater”, but that is the point; many don’t know the difference. They may they think they do but they obviously want to keep some of the bathwater otherwise they wouldn’t be listening to someone whom they have to keep draining off. It is always the dirty stuff that people want to have anyway, otherwise they would not have to deal with it, and they wouldn’t be in it or be there. All some people are trying to do is to placate me with some smokescreen, but I don’t smoke.

“But people have been helped by it”. Yes, it is quite easy to experience some emotional catharsis without the biblical transformation. Tell me, are you now reading your Bible more, or just looking at your new book more than the old one? There are some nice things in other religions, too. Should we encourage people to read their materials because they might help someone feel better? What is going to be you “fix” next time? When are you going to stop swallowing poison and get on a truly biblical diet?

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©