1 Kings 13:18

New International Version (NIV)

The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.)

For meditation

1. Do you remember the times your friends thought you were being fanatical about your faith?
2. Does this statement, “We are all Christians” sound familiar?
3. Do you know that it is a weapon of the enemy to cause you to disobey the Lord and sin against Him?
4. Do you remember the story of the young prophet from Judah God sent to prophesy against the altar at Bethel, and the old prophet from Israel (1 Kings 13:1-32)?
5. Didn’t God warn the young prophet not to “eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came” (9, 17 NLT)?
6. Did he not do well by turning down King Jeroboam’s invitation to dine with him in his palace after he prophesied against the altar (7)?
7. But, do you see how things changed when an old prophet from Bethel intervened?
8. Did the young prophet not do well by refusing the old prophet’s first invitation to be refreshed in his home (15)?
9. Why, then, did he give in the second time (18-19)?
10. Do you see how the young man’s resolve to obey God’s word floundered when the old prophet said to him, “I too I am a prophet, as you are” (18)?
11. Do you realize how quickly the young man changed his mind and went to dine with the old prophet in his home at Bethel against God’s word (19)?
12. How could God contradict Himself?
13. How about you?
14. How do you feel when your friends throw the “I am also a Christian” dragnet at you when you refuse to join them in some sinful deed?
15. Does it relax you and make you susceptible to that sin?
16. Do you see the power such claims carry along to weaken your faith and encourage you to disobey God, just as the old prophet’s claim did to the young prophet?

I pray you will be alert and beware of the devil’s schemes to “devour” you with such claims designed to weaken your resistance to temptation (1 Peter 5:8). May you always resist such deceptive claims, remembering that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).

So, let the warning light go up when someone tells you: “I am also a Christian,” and be diligent and steadfast in your resolve to obey what God has told you.

Shalom