As a child, I grew up around my maternal grandmother.  Since she only lived a block away, I actually spent quite a bit of time with her. There was a path that led from our house to hers.  If you sat on her front porch, you could see the back porch of the house where my family resided.  I often took the walk through the field to see Granny.

One of the advantages of seeing my grandmother almost daily was that I really got to see how she lived her life.  As I sat in her kitchen one day, she reached into the cabinet and got an onion to peel.  She then pulled a straw from her broom and put it in her mouth.  Needless to say, I was a bit perplexed.   While holding the straw in her mouth, Granny began to chop the onion.  I just had to ask, “Why do you have a straw in your mouth?”  She replied, “If you will hold a straw in your mouth while chopping the onion, the straw will absorb the onion fumes and you will have no tears.”

Wow!  I really learned something valuable!  I was so glad that my grandmother had passed such truth to me!  Not so fast!  Upon further examination, the truth had not been passed to me at all.  I watched that day as my grandmother chopped an onion while holding a straw in her mouth with tears running down her face!  What she passed to me as truth wasn’t truth at all! It was something that was passed to her and accepted as truth.

As God’s children, so often we hear a sermon or a teaching, and we take it as truth.  After all, the person who said it was “anointed.”  We were wowed by someone’s truth that they passed to us.  Not so fast!  Beloved, we are responsible to examine the Word ourselves.  Is that really what scripture teaches?   Is it taken out of context?  Is it twisted to make it say something that it was not intended to say? 

The people of God are called to test the truth, to judge between true and false, between light and darkness.  It is easy to fall into spiritual laziness and accept someone else’s truth.  Thank God for great spiritual leaders and teachers.  We need them!  Having good teachers does not dissolve our responsibility to study for ourselves.  As long as we are upon this earth, we must resolve to study the Word for ourselves.  “I think that this is right—because I find it in the Bible,” and “I think that this is wrong—because I do not find it in the Bible.”  This should become a part of who we are. 

I have said it often and I will say it here, “The people of God are becoming biblically anemic.”  If we continue to put no effort into studying for ourselves, it is not a matter of if we will be deceived, but how often we will be deceived. 

Let us be diligent in the study of His word. We can invite the Holy Spirit to join us and enlighten us as we seek truth. If we don’t do that, we will find ourselves putting a straw in our mouth while cutting an onion.  After all, my grandmother said it was true!

“Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  – 2 Timothy 2:15