One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. ~ 2 Kings 4:39
The stew that was simmering had just had a toxic substance added, and the naïve contributor thought that he was just simply adding some fresh vegetables to enhance the meal. There indeed had been added "death in the pot".
We can learn some important points from this narrative about being careful what we put into our vegetable stew, but we can also learn some important points about being careful about what we serve to one another when it comes to providing spiritual nourishment as well.
I was told recently that the job of being a local church pastor is not that dangerous for people, since it mainly consists of telling people stories and trying to get them to live a good life. On the contrary, the message of the life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ is one of eternal importance, which can certainly change one's life now if properly grasped - at one's level of understanding - and then lived out faithfully as one grows, as well as changing one's life trajectory for what comes next, after physical death or the return of Jesus.
But this "story" of the Gospel is also dangerous to get wrong, to add toxic elements to the stew of one's faith, so to speak. For if someone thinks that they are being fed the nourishing meal of God's love, forgiveness, and grace, when in fact they are being served up a stew of mixed-up faith beliefs, wrong theology, and a hefty dollop of self-serving works righteousness, the poison of the meal on one's soul condition cannot even begin to be described fully. What is needed in this instance is what Charles H. Spurgeon called for in one of his sermons when he said, "...the Church must cast the blessed gospel of the grace of God into the poisoned pottage, and false doctrine will not be able to destroy men's souls as it now does."
What is needed is clear, compelling demonstrations of the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ upon one's own life and bold sharing of one's hope in Jesus Christ with others. This is not a meal to contaminate with poisonous plants...
...or toxic teaching/online/video/books/music/etc.
Praying for you to be discerning about what is feeding your soul these days.
~ Pastor Sean and Tess
P.S. Please pray for us as we endeavor to stay faithful to God's Truth of Christ through His Word in our preaching and teaching, along with all of our teachers and leaders in the CBC ministries.