Most people have heard the story about George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree. The story goes, that George went out and chopped down his father’s cherry tree, and when his father asked about it, George admits to chopping it down. This story is meant to show the honesty of the first president of the United States. The biggest issue with this story is that it never happened.
There are many things that people today believe that are simply not true, but they believe them because they were presented as fact to them. One example is that many people believe that the Bible teaches that money is the root of all evil. The issue with this statement is that nowhere in the Bible does it say that money is the root of all evil, but rather it does say that money is the root of all sorts of evil in 1 Timothy 6:10.
As we hear things in this world, we need to be discerning listeners that look for the truth rather than something that is catchy or expresses our belief. The Bible teaches us a treasure trove of truth, but we cannot let what the outside world teaches pollute it. For this reason, we need to compare what we hear in Bible School, church, in devotionals, or anywhere else for that matter with what the Bible actually says rather than what people say the Bible says. In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul tells Timothy to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (KJV).” We too need to be like this and be discerning in our reading and listening.
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