Hold fast
Despise not prophesyings. Test all things; hold fast what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, AV & NKJV).
In the 1990s we organised several Christian holidays in Leysin, Switzerland. Leysin is an attractive alpine village nestling above Aigle at the eastern end of Lake Geneva, not far from Montreux. It is renowned for its sunny climate. You can get the cable car from the village to the Restaurant Tournant Le Kuklos and enjoy a meal or coffee in this famous revolving restaurant. You can often sit in glorious sunshine, looking down on the cloud covering Lake Geneva. It is a special place. One day we took our group up to the restaurant to enjoy the views. My mother was with us, and we took her for a coffee. It was a beautiful day, and we sat by the window looking out at the stunning scenery as the restaurant turned slowly round. We sat, enjoying ourselves, for about 30 minutes. As we got ready to leave, mum couldn’t find her handbag. We all helped her search for it before I realised she had placed it beside the window and it had travelled halfway around the restaurant! Had we stayed another 30 mins it would have come back to us!!
At the end of his first letter to the young church in Thessalonica, Paul wrote, “Despise not prophesyings. Test all things. Hold fast what is good.” My mum’s handbag was valuable, but she took her eye off it, and it slowly disappeared. This can happen to us spiritually. We can be diverted from the things of God and lose the enjoyment of our spiritual blessings. This is why we should not despise prophesying. We should not take God’s word for granted. I thank God I grew up amongst Christians who loved God’s word. They knew its sanctifying power and, above all, its revelation of God in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. We rarely lose the blessings of God’s word suddenly. It generally happens gradually. My mum’s handbag slowly disappeared. This is why the ministry of God’s word is so vital in constantly bringing before us what we have in Christ and stimulating our experience of fellowship with God and with one another, and encouraging us in service.
Paul also wrote, “Test all things.” To protect Paul and Silas from increasing persecution in Thessalonica, they were taken to Berea and immediately began teaching the Gospel there. The Bereans listened carefully to the ministry of Paul and Silas. We read that “they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). They tested the ministry by the Scriptures to prove its truth. This is something which should always characterise us. Whoever is teaching us, we should always prove what is said by the word of God.
We benefit so much from the ministry of God’s word. We hear things we have heard many times before, because we need to be reminded and refreshed. At other times we learn something we have never heard before and we understand by the Holy Spirit that the word of God is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). We should have Christ ministered to our hearts in love and also be ready for reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The teaching is good when proved to be genuine and founded soundly on God’s word. We should value it, possess it, live by it and share it with one another, so that we never lose its benefit by leaving it on the windowsills of our lives.
