Test all things

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. – Philippians 1.9-11

Approve, or test everything that you many be sincere and without offence.

In this world of social media and immediate access to more information than we have ever had before we have more to test than we can imagine, but our responsibility to test them hasn’t changed.

I think about social media. I am a Facebook user. It astounds me to see the things that people, including Christians, are willing to share without ever checking to see if they are real. It matters not if they are true or if they cause offence. If people like it and agree with it they share it. Truth and fear of causing offence fall by the wayside in order to get shares and likes. All kinds of part truths, half truths, and lies are spread by believers simply because they don’t test what they post.

Though that is not the main point here – but it is a picture of how important that we test all things we come across. On Facebook it only makes us look foolish when we post nonsense, but in life it can be harmful. As Christians it is vital that we test all things – first of all to see how they line of up with God’s word. Secondly it is important that we make sure things are true. `if we are not careful about truth in trivial matters how we hope for people to trust us in our winters for Christ?