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Read: 1 John 4:1-3
Listen: 1 John 4

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

John warns his readers about false prophets. In Scripture, a prophet represented God to people. Scripture tells of many true prophets, such as Moses, Elijah and Jeremiah. They spoke God’s words to people. In contrast, false prophets misrepresent God to people. John teaches believers to “test the spirits.” By this, John is encouraging them to exercise spiritual discernment. They are to check both the content and character of their spiritual influences. If their content and character do not align with God’s already-revealed Word, believers should not listen to them.

Similarly, we need to be careful and discerning with the voices we listen to today. Two questions can be helpful in this process of discernment. 1) Does this message align with the Bible? 2) Does this messenger look and sound like Jesus? The content and character of a messenger of God should align with Scripture’s teaching and the fruit of the Spirit. This is also why we need to regularly study our Bibles and put Scripture’s teaching into practice. The more familiar we become with Scripture’s teaching, the more we can discern right from wrong in both character and content.

TODAY: Commit God’s Word to memory to discern truth from error. Commit 1 John 4:1 to memory, which is a charge to “test the spirits” or exercise spiritual discernment. As you memorize these words, ask God for the wisdom, help and strength to put this charge into practice. For more discussion on knowing and living out God’s truth, listen to the Beyond the Weekend Podcast.