Banks are issuing recession warnings. The national debt is expanded by Congress and a spendthrift president. Inflation is likely to continue unabated. Interest rates will climb. Excess deaths are continuing to increase. New variants of COVID are emerging. There are rumors of vaccine passports and possible lockdowns. Russia and Ukraine continue to duke it out in a deadly war. China’s COVID problems continue to escalate. The more facts that come out on a daily basis indicate that the FBI, IRS and other administrative agency actors are conspiring with big business to censor dissent, even change the outcomes of elections. There is a whole bunch of stupid going around, making discernment and wisdom key to 2023.
These events underscore the need to dive deeper into your personal relationship with Christ. Deeper prayer. Deeper understanding. Deeper spiritual awareness. To coin a phrase: We need to be wise to survive. This means that we all need to study the Word of God for ourselves, let the Holy Spirit guide us in our daily walk, and as 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says, “prove all things: hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” This year will be a thorough test of testimony. There will be conspiracy theories. There will be misinformation and disinformation coming from the most unsuspecting places that will make it seem like it should be real.
Don’t believe things just because you want to believe them. Check them out, and that advice especially includes what Bible teachers and preachers are saying. If you are faced with difficult choices, pray, seek wise counsel, and act when it is settled in your heart. Don’t make rash or reactive decisions about what you do or what you say. Your words have power. Your actions have consequences. Be circumspect. As is written in 1 Peter 1:13, “Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Don’t be led into making emotional decisions. Don’t follow the pack. And don’t put your trust in those who have unbalanced scales—like the government and the sensational news media. Beware of agendas—both leftist and conservative. Both can be manipulative.
Remember who you are as a 2 Corinthians 4:8-13 person: “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed–For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak…” Let us truly show kindness to one another, speak boldly as we ought to speak, and follow God rather than man as we take on this new year in discernment and wisdom.
