A new commandment I give unto you: that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 13:34-35

As earthen vessels, we all need help and encouragement to grow and develop as we much as we might in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The true love we should have for one another is a divine definition of love.

this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments

1 John 5:3

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments

2 John 1:6

Having heard and believed the gospel, none of us is immune to the forces in our hearts and minds, or those outside that would lead us away.

We can be helped by one another, to hold fast.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.

Hebrews 10:23-24

None of us want to serve as those who said …

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

… only to hear those chilling words from Jesus:

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 7:22-23

Jesus then guides us:

Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock …

Matthew 7:24

We know that his teaching was pure, because it was not his own – he received it from His father. (John 7:16; 8:28; 14:10). 

This was in fulfilment of the glorious promise in Deuteronomy 18:18.

Our Lord lived in the Roman era of advanced engineering and administration, respected for its legal and cultural awareness. But sophisticated ideas and entrenched traditions in that world that even affected the people of God, particularly the Scribes and Pharisees, were deeply flawed. 

Jesus said that such wisdom of men was vain (Matt 15: 9) and the apostle called it foolishness when compared with God’s truth (1 Cor 3: 19).

It still is, though we too can sometimes get swept away and influenced by it.

Jesus told his disciples “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matt 15: 19).

Speaking as the prophet promised by God in Deuteronomy 18:18, he was reinforcing an important truth about every one of us:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

We all have the capacity to deceive ourselves and be deceived by others.

Deceived about what to believe and do – our ideas, convictions and actions.

Does Jesus simply want us just as we are, being ourselves, fulfilled and happy in our walk?

Or does he want us to continuously change and develop, as he did, to God’s glory?

In Matthew 7, we read that we must build on the rock of Christ and his teachings, to hear and do the sayings he gave us.

Not the latest trend or thinking about morality, justice, science, gentleness, truth.

Some might say: “I think for myself – I make my own mind up on issues. Others are easily influenced, but not me.”

Yet how quickly we can find ourselves questioning all sorts of things, especially in our modern world, the Information Age. 

First small issues, then bigger, important ones, ideas once accepted by us, but now doubted and re-examined.  

We might even find ourselves double checking our core beliefs – like the authority of the Bible, how deeply it should be searched, the way certain individuals should be treated, how God really wants us to serve Him, whatever our age or gender? And many more.

The following articles in Proving all Things seek the wisdom of God on these and other issues.

Please check the evidence presented by using scripture as it is intended to be searched. “Prove all things and hold fast to that which is good”. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Check it for yourself, for it is unwise to delegate responsibility. (Psalm 146: 3)

Doing this sincerely may test and challenge us. After all, God’s word is described as sharper than any two-edged sword and has the capacity to chasten us if we allow it to do so. (Hebrews 4:12)

The unbelieving world is more interested in feelings than evidence.

“What is your truth?”, “How does my truth make you feel?”

How did Jesus address such issues?

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:31

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 14:6

The truth of God’s word is eternal and never altered according to man’s thinking, culture or politics. 

It was known from the beginning, for the gospel was preached to Abraham some 4,000 years ago – and those of faith who are blessed with him.

Galatians 3:8-9

Tragically, the unenlightened welcome man’s theories, altering or replacing God’s truth in the process. They elevate man’s wisdom and abuse of freedom, making it virtuous to “do that which is right in his own eyes.” 

If such individualism and subjectivity enters the heart and mind of a child of God, where will it lead?

Will eternal truths in God’s word be explored with delight? Or regarded as irrelevant?

Will your moral compass be based on the constant, divine source of truth? Or on the ever-changing views of man?

Will there be a unity of mind that honours the Lord at his supper? Or will the table be shared with disbelievers in the One Gospel, out of sentiment, to the sorrow of Jesus?

Jesus tells us:

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

John 15:10

The Spirit through John tells us…

this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments

1 John 5:3

It is His “good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:31-32) though we “must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5: 10). If we keep his commandments, we have showed the love of God and so will be welcomed into the kingdom, just like the apostle Paul (2 Timothy 4:7-80).

These articles aim to sincerely focus our minds on what our Father wants of us as we await His beloved son, Jesus.

We hope and pray that they will help all of us better value the Word of life…

that is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…

2 Timothy 3:15-16

Let’s always take personal responsibility, like those who “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so … and believed.” (Acts 17:11-12)

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Jude: 24-25

Grace and peace to you in the Father and His son.