Detecting a Reprobate Mind - Part III
The Safeguard of Value
by Dr. John Tetsola

Last month we saw how a desensitized heart may be a dominant cause of willful disobedience to the revealed will of God. A desensitized heart has nothing to do with not knowing God’s will, and everything to do with the level of desensitivity allowed in the heart of the believer against the known will of God. Now let’s see how we can fortify ourselves from falling prey to a desensitized heart through the safeguard of value.

Now just as Jannes and Jambres were hostile to and resisted Moses, so these men also are hostile to and oppose the Truth. They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and counterfeit and to be rejected as far as the faith is concerned.

2 Timothy 3:8 AMP

In the above scripture, the Apostle Paul instructed his son Timothy on how to deal with the reprobates of his church. In a prophetic sense, Paul made an assessment of the spirits which were attacking Timothy’s New Testament church to the ones that also attacked Moses in the Old Testament. In each case, there was a manifestation of great opposition, hostility, and dishonor against the truth of God and His messengers. To dishonor God’s revealed will and His delegated authority is to disrespect and dishonor God. Such was the case with Jannes and Jambres—believed to be the two Egyptian magicians who withstood Moses. Instead of honoring God’s divine instruction to let Israel go, Jannes and Jambres were hostile to Moses. And just as Jannes and Jambres devalued the will of God spoken through Moses, today’s reprobates devalue God’s revealed truth, and oppose God’s servants.

The Necessity of Value

Why then do you kick [trample upon, treat with contempt] My sacrifice and My offering which I commanded, and honor your sons above Me…?

…I did promise that your house and that of your father [forefather Aaron] should go in and out before Me forever. But now the Lord says, Be it far from Me. For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

1 Samuel 2:29a-30b AMP

Value is a necessity when it comes to serving God. What you don’t honor you will not value, and what you don’t value, you will eventually mistreat and abuse. In the above scripture, God had a couple of questions for Eli before discarding him from service. God asked, “Why did you honor your sons above Me, and why did you treat My instruction with contempt?” God then gave Eli the explanation for reneging on His promise with the house of Eli, and it was due to the lack of honor for God, and a God instruction: “…For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” It takes a daily practice of honoring God to make our relationship with Him valuable, and it’s the safeguard of honor placed on our relationship with God that causes us to obey God’s voice, and the voice of His delegated authority.