Don’t Ride a Horse You Don’t Know
Today's Scripture
Acts 19:1-2 (NASB95)
It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' And they said to him, 'No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.'
Cowboy Wisdom
Out on the range, a cowboy learns early that you don't climb up on an unfamiliar horse and assume everything's going to be fine. You watch it first, you read its temperament, and you make sure you truly know what you're dealing with before you put weight in those stirrups. A horse you don't know can throw you into the fence before you even clear the gate. The same principle holds true in the spiritual life — riding on what you don't fully understand can lead you and the folks following you straight into trouble.
Apollos was a gifted man, sincere and passionate, but he was teaching from a limited saddlebag. He knew John's baptism — the call to repentance, the pointing toward a Messiah yet to come — but he hadn't heard the rest of the story. He hadn't heard that the Messiah had already arrived, lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and walked out of a sealed tomb. Those disciples in Ephesus had ridden the same incomplete trail. Their hearts were pointed in the right direction, but they were missing the good news that changes everything.
God is not angry with us for not knowing what we haven't been taught. But He does call us to keep learning, to stay hungry, and to never settle for a half-truth when the full truth is available. When Paul arrived in Ephesus, he didn't shame those men for their ignorance — he sat down, opened up the Word, and filled in what was missing. The best cowboys always made time to teach the younger hands. That's what the church is for: to make sure nobody keeps riding on incomplete information when the whole beautiful gospel is right there for the taking.
Questions for Reflection
Have you ever believed something about God that you later realized was incomplete or misunderstood? How did you come to a fuller understanding?
Are there areas of your faith where you might still be operating on 'John's baptism' — a partial truth — rather than the full gospel?
Who in your life has been an 'Aquila and Priscilla' — someone who gently corrected or expanded your understanding of God's Word?
Prayer Focus
Lord, give me the humility to acknowledge that I don't know everything, and the hunger to keep learning Your Word. Send teachers into my life who will speak truth with love. Guard me from the pride that settles for partial truth and the laziness that avoids deeper study. Fill me with a desire to know You fully. In Jesus' name, Amen.
