09/25/2019
Those societies who are unbelievers in Jesus look upon Christianity, and they want to put it to death for the very same sins that they themselves commit every day. They see the sins of those Christian brothers and sisters who are struggling to be perfected, and use them as examples of a failed faith. Yet, they miss the perfect, and true, sacrificial nature of Jesus, and the absolute truth in the grace of God. They lose sight of the fact that though beaten, tortured, and hung on a cross till dead... God’s truth remains firmly truth... Jesus will rise.
“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."”
Romans 3:3-4 ESV
If I get into a discussion with someone regarding faith the first thing they say is “I believe...” or “the way I see it...”. Well, we each must believe something I guess, but the ultimate goal is for that something to be the truth, and not a dreamwork that just makes us feel good about ourselves, or as some express it “that I can live with.” God is not negotiable, and Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could live lives free of accountability.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV
I find it interesting today that schools, politicians, news agencies, and others, teach and spout theory as if it were the truth. They confuse “I believe...” ideas with “the truth is...”, or for an absolute truth, and think that if they say something often enough, and with enough conviction, that it will somehow become true... that if they can convince people to believe that light is actually dark then it will be transformed into truth. In fact, truth never changes, and regardless of what we would like to believe, or even convince ourselves to be true, real truth remains steadfast, and we should fearfully seek it...
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
Romans 1:18 ESV
The Hubble telescope revealed something to us when it became fully operational; it showed us that what we had been taught as truth was not. We were told the size of the universe, that it was expanding, and that at a certain point it would begin to collapse in upon itself. Calculations were made that predicted this demise. But when the telescope was pointed into a previously empty spot in the universe something amazing happened... there in what we previously said was empty space we found even more distant galaxies, and we learned something more about the universe, and about ourselves. There was no edge of the universe there. Well, scientists could do a couple of things here; the first would be to say that the universe might be boundless, or at best we don’t really know, and the second would be to simply extend their earlier faulty hypothesis to include the new discovery. You guessed it... they simply extended the boundary of the universe to include these new galaxies and republished their calculations. This allowed them to feel good about their originally contrived “truth”. Yet the real truth regarding the universe remains, and we are yet to know it.
We do the same thing in our faith. We take a miracle like the birth of Jesus Christ, or one of the other biblical miracles, and formulate a “truth” as to how God did this. Was Jesus the product of Mary’s egg, and God’s spermatozoa? Was He a fertilized egg which was implanted in her womb? Was her pregnancy done in some other way? Just how did God do this? In fact the Bible doesn’t tell us precisely how it was done... so don’t teach a contrived version of the truth... teach it as the miracle, and the mystery, it is. Trying to understand God’s ways is futility, and it might just show us to be people who are wanting to become God ourselves. Listen to this scripture in Isaiah...
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
We look for truth, and if we don’t find it, or can’t understand it we are more than tempted to concoct our own version of it. We don’t just ask the question “What is truth?”, and when not told, be satisfied with that revelation possibly being made when we at last have an audience with God. No, we need to feel in control, and by understanding, and defining, we are allowing ourselves to do that... even if it means convincing ourselves that we know truth when we don’t.
“Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him.”
John 18:37-38 ESV
All the world is based on some kind of law. Some are governed by various spiritual laws, some by the random laws of dictators, and others by laws of morality. In being founded in such ways governments believe in strict adherence, and absolute penalties. Christians on the other hand, live on a foundation of law that has been smoothed, or fulfilled, by the life and sacrifice of Jesus, whose penalties were paid for us by Him, and which is overseen by God’s unwarranted grace. Our foundation is in God, and Jesus... these are the truths we hold to, and no... we don’t completely understand them, but we believe. In this we seek our righteousness.
“For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."”
Romans 4:3 ESV
So what is truth? More importantly, what is truth to you? Do you believe the “truths” we have defined to make ourselves feel better, and make us less uncertain about our position in creation, or do you found yourself in faith as it is made known to us in God’s Word?
“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for revealing truth to us, and for the mysteries regarding all of creation that are withheld from us, or remain beyond our understanding. Thank you for sending Jesus Christ to redeem us, even though we were yet in sin, and concocting truths to console ourselves. He is life and truth to us, and your Holy Spirit brings us understanding. Help us to accept absolute truth as you provide it, and reject those truths we fabricate to sooth ourselves. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God of perfect, and all encompassing, truth. Great are you who not only defines truth, but embodies it. Praised be your name Lord, for you are the truth that upholds my faith, and causes me to awe. All glory is yours Holy Father in the true grace that you pour onto us through Jesus... no imperfection, no hidden galaxies, just true and unwarranted grace.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
John 16:13 ESV
Rich Forbes