Sound Doctrine or Selfish Desires
When my girls were young they loved to go to Chinatown in New York and shop on Canal Street. We would get the knock off purses and wallets. For years we did that every trip until they were older. They found that while the shell looked similar to the "real" thing it often was not alike. You had to look closely to see that the stitching was not done nicely, that the label was not always straight. The lining should look a certain way and some should have a certification number. The leather should be soft. On an expensive purse the zipper moves back and forth with ease, without you having to rub a bar of soap on it! While that was fun, we knew it was fake!
If we know how to tell a real purse from a fake purse should we not know sound doctrine from selfish desires? There are many scary things out there right now from churches saying "we have misinterpreted scripture all these years" to some even saying that Jesus may not have been resurrected. Personal agendas are being the priority. Some denominations are voting on these issues but it does not seem that the whole truth is put out there. It is OUR responsibility to know what is going on! Recently in my Sunday school class our teacher reminded us that he teaches from the Bible but some of the things are how he interprets the scripture. He reminded us, again, that we are responsible for our own interpretation of Scripture.
It can be scary to do this at times because of what we may find but you have to decide if Jesus is your top priority. If He is, then you can ask Him to bring the Truth to Light. He will. Don't you find it interesting that the following Scripture was written so many years ago and it fits for right now? There is your first sign - from Paul when he was in between his first and second imprisonment. .
2 Timothy 4: 1-5, "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."
We will be judged on this. We were told to keep our head in all situations. We do not want to be a stumbling block to others or to future generations. Are we listening to sound doctrine? We want to be able to say the same thing Paul said at the end of his life. 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."