INSIGHT FOR TODAY WITH CHUCK SWINDOLL.
Chuck Swindoll’s ‘Insight for Today’ Daily Devotional is here. Insight for Today provides practical, relevant insight into today’s issues with Biblical principles applied. This devotional will help you connect with God on a daily basis, while also equipping you with a Bible-based approach to transforming your everyday life. Insight for Today” is a daily devotional written by Chuck Swindoll.
The Topic of Chuck Swindoll Daily Devotional 20th January 2023 is “Blind Loyalty Is Not Servanthood”.
Scripture: Colossians 1:17–18, 28
17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.
28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.
TODAY’S INSIGHT – 20TH JANUARY 2023.
In the last few decades, we have witnessed the emergence of groups like the Moonies, the Hare Krishnas, various New Agers, Scientologists, and numerous other cults.
Their jaded effort at controlling the minds of their followers is nothing short of brainwashing. It has been practiced by the Nazis, by Soviet-style Communists, and by totalitarian regimes all over the world. The result, of course, is a far cry from the role of a servant that Jesus Christ modeled. That form of mind bending turns a human being into a puppet, a slave without personal dignity, without the privilege to think and to ask questions, and without the joy of serving others willingly under the control and authority of Jesus Christ.
You may remember the story of a young man named Christopher Edwards who became a helpless pawn in the hands of one of the New Age religious groups that first came on the scene in this country back in the 1970s. Edwards was so captivated by this insidious movement that he had to be kidnapped by his own family before there could be any hope of recovery.
This bright, clear-thinking Yale graduate became virtually a glob of human putty in the hands of the “Moonies” in Northern California. Without realizing what was happening to him, the cultic system brainwashed him. After his father and a group of trained professionals finally snatched him from the tight fist of that cult, it took a full year of intense therapy before Chris regained his equilibrium.
No, blind loyalty is not servanthood. Believe me, not only am I strongly opposed to the “mind bending” employed by cultic leaders, I see dangers in other ministries that take unfair advantage of people—ministries we’d certainly not think of as cults.
Any ministry that requires blind loyalty and unquestioning obedience is suspect. Not all gurus are in the eastern religions, you know. Some discipleship ministries, quite frankly, come dangerously near this point. I am not discrediting all discipleship programs! My main concern is the abuse of power, overemphasis of loyalty to a human leader, an intense and unhealthy accountability that uses intimidation, fear, and guilt to promote authoritarianism. Weak and meek people can become the prey of such paranoid, self-appointed messiahs, resulting not in spiritual growth, but in exploitation and the loss of human dignity.
People in the pew and pastors alike need to beware of super-hero leaders with an abundance of charisma. We need to watch out for the highly gifted, capable, winsome, and popular superstars who focus attention on themselves or their organization. Rather, the true leader must consciously turn people’s devotion and worship to the Head of the body—Jesus Christ. The Savior is the Lord. He shares that preeminent place of authority and glory with none other.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything . . . . We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. (Colossians 1:17–18, 28)
About Chuck Swindoll Daily Devotional “Today’s Insight”.
Today’s Insight is written by Chucks Swindoll. Chuck Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word and His grace. Since 1988 he has served as the founder and senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Texas, but his listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. The radio broadcast of this devotional program has aired for more than 35 years. Read more.
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