I’m not an impulse buyer – I prefer to think before I buy. Too many times impulse buyers get home and

think “Why on earth did I buy THAT – or TWO of those!” And if a salesperson indicates that it’s rather

urgent for me to make the decision – perhaps this is the very last one of these items, or the sale ends at

midnight, or my purchase will help the salesperson win a trip to Tahiti -- I consider the decision made

and walk away. Unless it’s gas for an empty tank, it’s probably not urgent.

However, sometimes we can be impulse believers – not taking time to think before we believe. We hear

someone say something that has a little bit of truth woven in here and there, and we buy into the whole

thing. That’s the way Satan often works in our world – taking some of the truth of God’s Word and

dressing it up and accessorizing it with compelling lies that readily deceive. That’s why Paul gave this

warning to the believers in Philippi:

Look out for the dogs [the Judaizers, the legalists], look out for the troublemakers, look out for the

false circumcision [those who claim circumcision is necessary for salvation]… (Philippians 3:2 Amp)

Paul was seriously concerned that legalistic Jewish Christians were twisting the truth of the gospel and

no doubt causing Gentile believers to wonder if they were really saved – since they had not embraced

the Jewish practice of circumcision. They were essentially telling the Gentile believers that they had to

become Jews first and then they could become Christians – which is actually a lie, since we know that

salvation is a gift from God and not from anything we do or don’t do.

When Paul preached the truth of the gospel to the people in the small Macedonian city of Berea, they

were captivated and intrigued – after all, Paul was a captivating and passionate orator. Yet they went a

step further before buying into the truth of what he preached. I love their response:

… they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether

these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

My dear friends, what are you buying into? Are you searching the Scriptures daily to find the truth?

Remember: God has given us a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Let’s use it!



By Judy Shrout