More to say - our measuring stick...

James Whitcomb Riley 1849 - 1916 American writer, poet , "When I see a bird that walks like a duck, and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck."



"Suppose you see a bird walking around in a farm yard. This bird has no label that says 'duck'. But the bird certainly looks like a duck. Also, he goes to the pond and you notice that he swims like a duck. Then he opens his beak and quacks like a duck. Well, by this time you have probably reached the conclusion that the bird is a duck, whether he's wearing a label or not." (Immerman 1982, p. 102)

Maybe...maybe not.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Prov 14:12

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and HE will direct your path." Prov 3:5,6

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16, 17

So what is our measuring stick? How it sounds, feels, walks, swims? May quack, waddle and paddle like a duck and it may be a decoy, fake...and a trap to shoot ya' out of the pond! eh?

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matt 7:21

So what brought this all on? I was troubled by something I read that was clearly not in line with God's word, and something I thought, most Christians would recognize as not in line. So I started doing some research and snooping on it. And found a couple disturbing things:

A lot of Christians seem not to recognize the quackings of a false duck. :( Why is that? Because their quacking sounds good. It is what we want to hear? (There is a verse in Isaiah, I couldn't find it, I will add it later, about us wanting to hear what tickles our ears, and not the truth.)

It maybe also because we do not know the truth well enough to recognize something that strays from it.

The second disturbing thing, I ran across in my research, is a link to some of these off beliefs to some Christian authors I trusted. That alarmed me. Then made me sad. Then made me scared.

We so often trust a name, a position. But men are men and prone to error. Our measuring stick MUST be the Word of God. Which means we MUST be in it enough to understand what is truth and what is not. Like the Berians, such God's word to see if what is said is true.

Acts 17:11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Then I became afraid for my children. That they could be wooed by the big, the popular, the what sounds good. And I realized I need to share with them the importance of the Word as our measuring stick. I need to blanket them in prayer, that they would develop a love for God's word and would seek and find the treasures in it. That God would bind them close to His heart and not to let them be led astray.

I shared my concern with my mom, and she shared back the sweetest thing, I have to share it here. I just picture my "doughboy" kids:

"Your babies are covered with such prayer , with the Word promises that cover them (and even their own babies ) that if we could see the invisible covering that is constantly around each of them ...they would look like The doughboy man in biscuit commercials . My main issue in what is left of my life in this body is.. keeping the Three and Ken's Four so covered that a flea couldn't get through without us crying out " LORD! Look at that flea! Crush it before it bites them , Lord!" ...and He dose it! Cuz He LOVES our babies! "

Isn't that an awesome picture? So remember, a duck is not necesarrily a duck...and you have to test and prove by God's word.

.