Fear is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of hell. If we can be convinced to live in fear, we will be prone to believe and follow anything that promises to alleviate our fear. Fear is birthed in a lie and morphs over time to become a variant of the original lie making our submission to its control more palatable.
The word “variant” is popular in our current cultural environment. A variant simply defined is a version of something that is different in some respect from the original. A variant will vary slightly from the standard. If the variant has sinister motives, that deviation from the original is where deception is birthed. To keep a deception moving forward, variants of the original lie will line up somewhere in the future ready to be revealed at the appropriate time to keep us moving forward in yet another manifestation of fear.
There are variants in all aspects of life. Our faith has variants. To discern the underlying motivator for a variant will take us back to its place of origin. This is where we can discover if truth or error is moving us forward. Without taking the journey to a variants origin, we will turn over the reins of our life to things that do not have our best interests in mind.
The apostle Paul kept his faith simple. He wasn’t a fan of variants. He wrote “My brothers and sisters, when I first came to proclaim to you the secrets of God, I refused to come as an expert, trying to impress you with my eloquent speech and lofty wisdom. For while I was with you, I was determined to be consumed with one topic—Jesus, the crucified Messiah” (I Corinthians 2:1-2).
Paul wasn’t chasing variants of the Lord. He was consumed by the pure essence of Jesus Christ to such a degree that a deceptive variant could easily be discerned. Paul followed the simple message of Christ and refused to chase after a host of variants that looked and sounded like the Lord, but after closer examination in the light of truth, those variants were filled with destructive heresies.
Be careful what variants you choose to follow. Not all are based on truth.
Well said! There is always a tension between being rooted and grounded in the faith, and following on to know the Lord.