As Man Thinketh: The Believer's Thought Life

As believers, we need to make certain that we have not only moved away from dishonesty, trickery, etc. but that we have renounced those ways. We have disowned them and they have no part in our lives.

Paul then added that those in partnership with him in ministry, including himself, refused to distort the word of God. He was CAREFUL not to distort the Word.

A prime example of how believers distort the word of God is by applying it to only one area and ignoring the other applications. One of the worst areas that I see this done is II Corinthians 6:14 which speaks of being unequally yoked. Even as you read this reference to this Scripture your heart is thinking of how it applies to marriage. If one goes to read that text, one will discover that marriage is never mentioned in that passage. That is one application that believers take for that Scripture and ignore the fact that it is talking about tying your life to that of an unbeliever in such a way that it is difficult to get loose. It refers to going into business with an unbeliever, owning property with an unbeliever, as WELL as marriage. It refers to partnering up with someone who doesn’t accept the Word and work of God through Jesus Christ. It is a distortion of God’s Word to take that particular passage of Scripture and only speak about marriage. Believers need to be careful to find the context of a Scripture in order to not mishandle the Word.

In order to accomplish this, Paul was saying that he was very careful in handling God’s Word. You and I must use great care in handling God’s Word.

So what do we learn in this lesson.

1. We must decide in our hearts to be CAREFUL with Scripture.

2. We must renounce secrecy and sneakiness as methods that corrupt God’s Kingdom work

3. We need to set the truth plainly before people and let God use that truth to shine light into the lives of unbelievers.

4. When people reject the gospel it is because Satan has blinded them, not necessarily because they are evil.

5. We need to be careful to always promote Jesus – not ourselves!