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

Thought for the Day: Obviously, when you want someone to believe what you’re saying, you tell them to be cautious when listening to opposing viewpoints. It’s an ancient rhetorical device used over and over in the ancient world (and even today). However, when 1 John was written, about 100 years after Christ’s ministry, there were literally thousands of competing ideas about both the person of Jesus (and just how much of his person was divine, if any, and how much of his person was human, if any), and his teachings. John cautions people not only to pay attention to what he’s saying, but to carefully, prayerfully consider what they’re hearing from others as well, and to discard what their hearts tell them simply cannot be.

Hundreds of years before John, and hundreds of years before Jesus, Buddha told his disciples something similar. There were thousands of spiritual teachers wandering around India, and people were confused as to who was speaking deep, spiritual truth. Many teachers urged ascetic forms of spiritual practice—standing on your head for weeks at a time, fasting for months, etc. When Buddha was asked which teachers were telling the truth and which were lying, he responded, “don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in them.’

In other words, be discerning. Study. Pray. Meditate. Use reason and science and history and literature and all the tools at your disposal to deeply discern eternal, deep spiritual truths, and always ask this simple question: “Does this practice or text or teacher lead to love?”

Prayer: Holy God, whose being is love, grant me a discerning heart and mind, so I will always choose the path of love, and be love for the world. Amen.