Sincerely Wrong!

O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof (2 Kings 4:40)

2 Kings is a story about a pot of stew that was prepared with good intentions, but was inedible. The sons of the prophets were hungry, so they began to seethe a pot of stew. One man went out in search of some veggies to put in the stew. However, he unknowingly picked “wild gourds” and put them in the stew. He was sincere. He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought the food he gathered was good food. But it nearly sent all his buddies gagging to the emergency room to get their stomach’s pumped!

I remember when I was about 12 years old, I wanted to surprise my Mom by washing her car. Her car was a 1954 Plymouth Plaza (painted black). I never washed a car before. But, I watched my Mom wash dishes, so I figured washing a car was the same. I looked under the kitchen sink and found some SOS brillo pads.  Since I saw my Mom scrub pots and pans with these, I picked up a brillo pad and began wash her car with it. I was sincere! I meant well! I had good intentions! I innocently scrubbed the exterior of her car with the brillo pad. When I was done, I rinsed the car with water. Whoa! The car was no longer a shiny black. It was a dull dark red! What happened? I didn’t realize it, but I scrubbed the paint off down to the primer!

When my Mom and Dad first saw the car after I washed it, they were horrified. What did they do to me? When they saw I was sincere, they forgave me (2 Chron. 30:17-18) and instructed me, “You don’t use a brillo pad on painted objects!” Lesson learned!

It is not enough to be sincere. A person can be sincere, but be sincerely wrong. We must be like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 who, “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”