Apparently the service is being bombarded by calls. One of the originators said, "It's a technological way to get something off your chest without the embarrassment that comes from confessing one on one."
But do you know what it really is? Besides a money maker for someone? It's confession without accountability. This is precisely what the Lord wants us to understand in Proverbs 1. There are four kinds of people God does not want us to turn into thinking that there will be no accountability. Just the opposite.
Review: The first one God wants us to avoid turning into are practicing sinners (vv. 10-19).
Second, God does not want us to become naïve – Prov. 1:22: "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?”
The word “simple” in the Hebrew is quite revealing. It is the word used to suggest “open-mindedness.” How often are we told to have an “open mind?” We hear things like, “Oh, come on now, have an open mind. Go into this with an open mind. Attend this meeting with an open mind? Experience something new with an open mind.”
But that is exactly what God does not want for anyone of us. He does not want us to have an open mind. That can be a severe problem. If our minds are open, someone other than God can fill it. By the way, when it comes to our mind, God does not tell us to open it, but to what? “Guard” it!
In fact, check out some of these passages:
But you ask, “Well how can my mind be filled if it is not first opened?” God does the opening and filing of our minds, not us. Besides, what are we to use to guard our minds? God’s Word. And when we use God’s Word to guard our minds, what are we doing at the same time? Filling it with the truth of Scriptures. To have an open mind is to receive the revelation of God found in the bible, not to open it up by attending a meeting where someone is giving an alternative view of some doctrine found in the bible.
We are also told to “guard ourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Jesus said “be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15). Greed is a sin that does not come only in one nicely wrapped package, there are many forms, so Jesus says, be on guard. Peter told us to “be on guard so we will not be carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from our own steadfastness” (2 Pet. 3:17). Finally, Paul told the pastors at Ephesus to “to be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock,” why? Verse 29 – “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”
Please do not ever think that you are somehow more knowledgeable or more sophisticated because you approach life and learning with an open mind. There are situations where we need to do this especially when it comes to traditionalism and culture. But by and large, be a person who guards his mind in Christ Jesus.
Or to put it another way, open your mind to the things of God found in the Holy Scriptures, but all else, do your very best to guard your mind. To go around with an open mind on all various sorts of things is to become naïve.
Would you manage your home like that? Would you simply have an open house policy where anyone can come and go inside your home thinking that somehow you were being a good neighbor? No, we guard our homes. Why? To protect what’s on the inside. If the wrong people somehow get into our homes, they can do damage to the things inside, and they can steal things.
So it is with our minds. Satan is a thief and a destroyer (John 10:10). He can change himself and his teachings into noble and good things which merely counterfeit what is right (2 Cor. 11:14). Once he gets a foothold into our minds, he can begin to damage things and worse, steal other things.
Ever had your joy stolen? Ever had your peace turn suddenly into anxiety? Perhaps, it happened because you had an “open mind policy.” Paul clearly taught that the “peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” If God wants to guard your minds with His peace, how much more should you also in cooperation with God guard your own mind with His Word?
More to come.
