A question of balance

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19

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

Fads and fashions come and go. Clothes we wore fifteen years ago now look “old-fashioned” (not, of course, that you care if you’re a sensible person). Music likewise: yesterday’s star is today’s forgotten man or woman. On a more serious level, political trends can be much the same; even the kind of language we use to address one another – I was greeted in the street just today by a total stranger who called me “Sir” (yes, really!), though more often it’s strangers on the phone who call me “Colin” as if I was a lifelong friend. That never used to happen!

It happens too in the realm of “religion”. A few years ago in Christian circles everybody seemed to be quoting Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plan to prosper you and not to harm you…” Wonderful words, of course, but spoken originally to a particular people in a particular place and in particular circumstances… Who could be so sure that they applied in your circumstances or mine today, except in the most general sense?

I can remember when what we now call “the charismatic renewal” was brand new. I was a very young Christian, so I was happy to let wiser, more mature heads grapple with that puzzling phenomenon. But there’s no doubt that it created pretty serious waves, waves which are still having their effect, sometimes good, sometimes perhaps not so good, half a century later.

I’ve seen trends for “inner healing”, or perhaps just healing in general (if you have faith you should expect to be healed!). I’ve visited a “Zionist” church, which seemed to see Christianity through the lens of today’s middle-eastern politics. I’ve seen people in worship barking like dogs or howling with laughter or falling over under some kind of emotional – or should I say spiritual? – force. Plus, of course, churches where the virgin Mary almost seems to have supplanted Jesus.

Yes, fads and fashions come and go, even in the life of God’s church. This is why Jesus warned his people against false teachers and prophets; there are sombre words in, for example, Matthew 7:15-23 and 1 John 4:1-3, and Paul speaks about childlike believers who are “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4:14). We mustn’t say we haven’t been warned!

But wait a minute…

What if God is “doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:19)? We mustn’t completely discount that possibility, must we? What if the “new thing” is in fact the rediscovery of an important but neglected old thing? Going back again to my own early experience as a Christian I feel now that the Holy Spirit barely figured in my understanding; I don’t remember sermons relating to him or much mention of him at all. So when the charismatic movement hit us all it caused us to do some very serious thinking, and now, some fifty years later, I view it as a genuine movement of God, in spite of errors and excesses.

I’ve put two Bible verses at the top of this blog. The one from Isaiah 43 seems to scold the people for their spiritual blindness – God says “Don’t you see this new thing I am doing?”, implying that they should. But the one from 1 John 4 sounds a warning: “Don’t be taken in by false or misleading teaching!”

And the question arises, “How should we reconcile these two voices?” Don’t they seem to contradict one another?

We sometimes talk about the need to be “balanced” in our views. It may sound rather a dull word, as if all that matters is to be comfortably middle-of-the-road, but it’s a good word all the same. We need to be balanced – biblically balanced – when thinking about fads and fashions.

Some Christians are just plain gullible; they will swallow the latest thing hook, line and sinker. Others are overly sceptical; they have closed minds and are so sure that their views are right that they refuse to consider the possibility that they might have something new to learn. They can come across, frankly, as rather arrogant: “We’re the ones who’ve got it right” (with a patronising shake of the head), “and anyone who takes a different view is sadly lacking”.

The balanced mind is what the Bible calls “discerning”.

King Solomon, newly enthroned following the death of his father David, was invited by God to ask for whatever he would like. And what did he ask for? “Give to your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong…” (1 Kings 3:7-9). Beautiful! – though that was in the days before he descended into folly.

Through meditation, by comparing scripture with scripture, through developing a hunger and thirst for the fulness of God’s truth, by talking with others who are wiser in Christ than we… this is the route to a balanced and discerning discipleship.

This is how to avoid a shallow gullibility on the one hand and an arrogant know-it-all mentality on the other. Lord, help us to get it right!

Dear Father, we live daily amid a swirl of bewildering opinions, enthusiasms and trends, even within your church, and there are times when we find the Bible hard to understand. We want to think and act in accordance with your truth, so please grant us the teaching ministry of your Holy Spirit - and the humility to recognise when perhaps we are wrong. Amen.