Have you noticed that
counsel among human kind is a most abundant resource ... and one
of the most freely dispensed? The old adage that opinions
are as noses is not overstated. Ask most men their counsel
(opinion)
on any given matter and you'll rarely go away wanton. The
dreaded egomania virus is loose among us and it breeds an unholy
contagion. "Also of your own
selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them." The winds of our day carry much doctrine contrary to the Word of
GOD; and we indeed are being tossed to and fro (c.f.
Ephesians 4:14). However near
or dear the source, all counsel apart from Scripture is corrupt,
and extremely corruptible!
Even we believers have succumb, in many quarters, to the sleight
of men and their craftiness. If HIS counsel is to win the
day, we must reinsert discretion
when it comes to who, or what, we allow within our influence
bubble: "Now I beseech you,
brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary
to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For
they that are such serve not our LORD JESUS CHRIST, but their
own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the
hearts of the simple." As our world slips
further from GOD and nearer to the end, counsel is in high
demand; while at the same time: "... grievous wolves enter in among
you, not sparing the flock."
The trouble of course, is that the high percentage of supply
masquerades as opinionated wolves in sheep's counsel.
What solace and comfort
there is in the Scripture, yet what an impertinence HIS Word has
become to mainline faith. Does not our delight determine the
counsel we seek after? Delight yourself in any one, or
thing, other than the LORD, and you'll quickly find the pseudo counselors
swamping your phone banks offering to shore up your shaky
delight. It is true that: "in a
multitude of counsellers there is safety." ... but
true safety is only in the multitude of
"testimonies" found in the Bible.
The great Apostle
Paul's parting counsel to the Church of Ephesis is some
of the wisest
ever offered, and preserved unto us, that we might heed it too:
"And now, brethren, I
commend you to GOD, and to the Word of HIS grace, which is able
to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them
which are sanctified."