Taught By God

DEVOTION
1 THESSALONIANS
TAUGHT BY GOD
1 Thess 4:9-10
9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
NIV
It is one thing to learn correct behaviors from hearing the word preached, but it is entirely a different thing to learn directly from God. I do really think that many times men are prone to teaching from a slanted point of view, a particular doctrinal position. I do believe many teachers of the word are bias toward either a denominational or one of the main categorized views. Some may even teach ideas and opinions which serve to only advance their own authority over others. But to learn directly from God is the purest form of education. This is in fact what I believe is the intent of God in the first place. That is the reason he sent the Holy Spirit. First he convicted me of my sin and need of repentance and to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Once I did that the Holy Spirit switched hats and became my leader into all truth. This is the design of God. I am to be taught directly by the Holy Spirit the truths of God. One of these is how to love my fellow believers. God outlines that very clearly in his word and the Holy Spirit reveals it with power right into my spirit. No man can have that type of impact. Sure, listening to the word preached, or even preaching it does bring out truths from the word, even if they may be a bit bias toward some particular view, but it is the Holy Spirit who filters out the junk and leaves only the pure truth within a heart. I do not think I preach for any other reason than for my love of my fellow believers, hoping I can impart some truth about God and his design and desire for our lives. I am sure other men have the same motives and surely I am not condemning the preaching of the word. I simply believe God is the only one who can impact a person’s heart with. I can be urged by others to love more and more and I can urge others to love more and more, but I truly believe it is only God who can bring that type of love in the first place. Wow did I ramble on and on. But the simple truth is being taught by God.