“On hearing his words, some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘He is the Christ.’ Still others asked, ‘How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?’ Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.” (John 7:40-44)
Have you ever heard the expression, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater”? Seems kind of ridiculous, doesn’t it, to think that you might actually throw a living baby out with bathwater. But back in the days that this phrase was coined, it was often the case the people only bathed once or twice a year. Then, one tub of water was drawn, and the oldest in the household had his bath first. He was followed by the next oldest, who bathed in the same water, and so on, until the youngest, the baby, would be the last one to use the wash water. You can only imagine what the state of that water might have been by this time. It might well have been too dirty to see anything in it! In modern times, this expression is used to warn against dismissing the obvious because of insignificant detail.
When I read the above text, it occurs to me that this is exactly what the some of the people of the day were in danger of doing. They were getting so hung up on the fact that Jesus was from Galilee (ignoring, or perhaps ignorant of the fact that Jesus was, indeed, born in Judea!) that they were willing to dismiss the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Some of these people had, no doubt, witnessed Jesus’ miracles. Those who had not personally witnessed them had surely heard about them. And all had heard His inspired answers to the scribes and Pharisees that proceeded these texts. Yet, despite all of this, some became so focused on the detail of where Jesus came from they they were willing to dismiss all other evidence. They were “throwing the out baby with the bathwater”!
Are you in danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater? Even in our day and time there are many miraculous manifestations of God. But there are those who teach these are of the devil, without even putting them to test. Paul warns Timothy of such people, describing them as “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Tim. 3:4) His next warning is chilling: “Have nothing to do with them” (2 Tim. 3:4)!
Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, my friends! Don’t get so caught up in the teachings of your church that you dismiss the modern workings of God’s Spirit! Watch for them, embrace them, praise God for them, and allow God to bless you in this way! Throw out the dirty water by testing the spirits, but rescue the baby, and “have nothing to do” with those who will tell you otherwise!
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org