“There will be false teachers among you,” the Bible warns (2 Peter 2:1). False teachers are preachers or teachers, authors or bloggers, anyone who comments on social media or provides commentary on politics, any video or show or podcast that claims to speak God’s truth but does not.
False teachers may appear as enemies, but they are more dangerous when they’re your friends or even your own church. You may not know who they are because “they will secretly introduce destructive heresies.” Their teaching that contradicts God’s Word is so destructive because it’s so deceptive.
“Many will follow their shameful ways,” the Bible predicts (2 Peter 2:2). Warning! False teachers will succeed with some people. Don’t be their next success.
Jesus himself warns, “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:15,16). Here’s the best way to identify false teachers, and you don’t need a seminary degree to do it. Know, without a doubt, what the real thing looks like.
In the same way that federal agents are trained to identify counterfeit money. Agents can’t possibly be exposed to all of the counterfeit varieties, so instead, trainers ensure that agents know without a doubt what real money looks like, feels like, sounds like, and then anything else is fake.
So know Jesus like that. Be real with Jesus, as real as he is with you.
Here are three helps for being more real with Jesus, knowing he is the real thing, and resisting the deceptive lies swirling around you and in you. Can you read these as you? You’re the one talking now. Reflecting. Praying.
- “Can I let Jesus see the real me? I can be guarded in some situations or with some people, and rightly so. But I need to be less guarded with Jesus. He can handle me. He designed me from eternity and saved me to be his own. He loves all of me and wants to see all of me.”
- “Do I invite Jesus into my problems without telling him what to do? I like my opinions. I trust myself more than I trust others, and sometimes that’s healthy. But I need to stop trusting myself more than I trust JESUS. My prayers should be more open-ended like giving Jesus a whiteboard and a marker (Jesus, go ahead, you write, you draw, you form the arrows and the flow charts and you give the answers; I trust that it’s all perfect) rather than giving Jesus a long shopping list (I send Jesus on errands that I’ve designed with my limited, sinful ways). Jesus is waiting to give you blessings. His way.”
- “Is Jesus so real in my life that others observe me and say, ‘I want what you have’? There have been some moments and some relationships where I’ve been so close to Jesus, growing in my faith, and secure in my salvation that my words and actions have given away my identity in Christ. People notice. Many of them don’t know it, but they’re searching, they’re hurting, they’re trying to find the good life. I want more of these moments and these relationships. So I will be more consistent, more committed and more conversational about Jesus in my life. I want what Jesus has. And he wants to give me all of it—all of himself.”
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I want to be more real with you. To let you see the real me. To invite you into my problems without telling you what to do. To be so full of you that others want you, too. I need more of you, and less of me. Amen.
MORE MEDITATION: Pause and pray about the 3 helps above. Speak them in a conversation with yourself that directs your thoughts to Jesus.