Take Inventory

I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me. For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. [2 Corinthians 11.1-4]

I want to challenge us all to take inventory of what we believe.

Do we believe in a different Jesus than the One the Gospels tell about?

Do we believe in a different kind of Holy Spirit than the One Jesus sent on the Day of Pentecost?

Do we believe in a different kind of Good News than Jesus preached that the Kingdom of God is at hand (so repent)?

I dare say, we need to take this inventory and take it seriously.

There are those today who have twisted Who Jesus is. The main thing they grossly neglect is that Jesus came to earth to show us how to live and minister in God's Kingdom.

There are those today who have twisted the kind of Spirit Who dwells in us. They acknowledge Him, but deny every manifestation He brought on the Day of Pentecost.

There are those today who have twisted the Gospel to make it simply a "get out of jail free" card. They have totally discounted the holiness and righteousness Jesus demanded through faith. The Kingdom is a vague "pie in the sky" rather than our current domain and employer!

The bottom line is this: Satan is no less deceiving people today in the Church than he was when Paul wrote the passage above.

Father, give us the grace to see the deception all around us. Help us to get real in our assessment of ourselves compared to the Jesus, Spirit, and Gospel of the Bible!