DISCERNING MEN

Matthew 10:41 He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

No one is unidimensional. Let’s rephrase this: everybody carries more than one thing. What you receive from others is thus dependent entirely on your discernment.

A prophet is first ‘a man’, perhaps a father, and then one who stands in the office of prophet. Each of those three dimensions comes with different rewards. What you will hear when they are functioning as father may thus differ from when they stand in their prophetic office.

A clear example is captured in the life of Jacob. As a father, when news of ‘Joseph’s death’ was told him, we read in Genesis 37:34 that ‘Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days’ and refused to be comforted. However, we read further and in Genesis 49:1, he enters his prophetic office where he called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

Jacob was a man, but that man was a father and a prophet.

You can be lodged around graces and still not benefit from them because you fail to discern the vessels carrying them.

#sly