Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

I am driving north on the interstate in the middle lane doing the speed limit, because I am a law abiding citizen. People have been passing me on the left for some time. Note, I am still doing the speed limit.

Soon traffic slows, much more so on my right. A State Trooper has a speeder pulled over. Everyone is now a law abiding citizen. Soon after passing the trooper the number of cars passing me at a higher rate of speed increases. Fear of being caught seems to have left those drivers.

Not much further down the interstate a black and white clearly marked State Trooper comes onto the interstate and is slightly ahead of me and to my right. I, as always, am doing the speed limit. I note the trooper is keeping pace at exactly the speed limit. All the traffic is following the trooper at that exact pace.

It seems his presence keeps everyone law abiding. To my left a car comes slowly alongside and the trooper is in plain sight, yet this car inches forward perhaps only five miles an hour faster. Histrionics has taught us that tickets are not usually given out for that grace amount, so he boldly moves on.

The trooper pulls sharply to the left lane and his lights come on. The slight offense is an offense none the less. Perhaps the bigger offense here was not going alone with the plan to keep pace. That was after all the trooper’s mission that day, not to catch offenders but to prevent offenders.

Immediately afterwards the traffic was passing me on the left even faster than before.

Do you have to see Jesus in order to follow Jesus? Is your failure to see Jesus justification for lawlessness?

1 Corinthians 14:26  How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

What if when you come together edification is left out? What then? We have come to a point in our relationships that we tend to mercy rather than truth with grace. We glaze over error in doctrine where a slight might be received as judgmental.

We recently lost one of our members to one who was unsound in doctrine because we did not correct his errors at every turn. We had opportunity. I stood against him once and said “You’re wrong.” It came off harsh to some, but he became cautious around me.

I cannot be everywhere, we all must stand against doctrine that is flawed lest we lose others to the tactic of persuasive personality. Charm does not dictate doctrine, the Word of God does, and it does so to the edification of the weak to build them up, strengthen them, and train them to stand against error.

Perhaps my greatest failing was not being graceful with truth. It is a failing of mine. I cut quick and deep. I wield the sword as a weapon rather than a scalpel. I allow others to apply the balm of healing. In this I need to learn from my mistakes, to the edification of the weak. If I do not learn we could lose another member to the doctrine of personality.

This is why each of us needs to participate in Sunday school, to test our own doctrine without fear. It is not a sin to have error in doctrine, it is a sin not to allow correction. Paul’s advice within 1 Corinthians 14 was in the support by two or more so that one person does not stand alone for truth.