Being deceived or scammed is as old as time. Every year thousands of people loose large sums of money to schemes of those who steal through deception. We are almost to the end of an election cycle and I will be so glad to see those commercials that take fragments of truth and weave them into a manipulative message. “Messaging” is a code word for learning how to take half-truths and even outright lies and make them persuasive. I heard one leading politician bemoaning the lack of ability in his party’s leadership to get their ‘message’ together.
Ah, the ‘truth.’ It can be hard to find in
this chaotic world. But, if we are ready to learn and grow, if we are humble
enough to admit we do not know it all, the truth will emerge, owning us,
guiding us, and enriching our daily life.
Are you a person who knows and lives in the Truth? I am so thankful for the science that helps us understand our world. Knowing about bacteria and viruses as a cause of disease has remarkably changed the quality of our lives. Antibodies that keep virulent ‘bugs’ from killing us are a wonderful discovery. When I told “Alexa” to turn on my lights this morning and asked that device to give me the weather forecast for the day, I was thankful for technology that makes me more comfortable. While science is able to explain the physical world and the knowledge gained is valuable for improving our lives, there is more.
Science cannot explain why we exist. It cannot provide us with
purpose or meaning nor can it give us ultimate hope. Those issues require the
revelation of Truth which comes to us through the Word and Spirit of God. "As
your words are taught, they give light; even the simple can understand
them." (Psalm 119:130, NLT) "Guide my steps by your word, so I
will not be overcome by any evil." (Psalm 119:133, NLT)
If we would live the richest kind of life, we will pursue the Truth that is found in God.
It is no accident that the revelation of Himself starts with this line - "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1.1) Eugene Peterson wrote these words of profound insight: "First, God. God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God." We exist for more than making money, creating a family, or gaining some measure of success. God made us to know Him, to become creatures of His glory, and to live eternally in His house! If that is our first truth, we are positioned to grow into spiritual maturity.
Rejecting God, refusing the truth of Scripture, turning away the whisper of the Spirit, will keep a person living in the dark, a place of confusion and chaos.
Paul’s word confront us, asking us to look up. "God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That’s why those people don’t have any excuse. They know about God, but they don’t honor him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. They claim to be wise, but they are fools." (Romans 1:20-22, CEV) The Psalmist said "The fool says in his heart, "there is no God!" (14.1) He is accepted by faith through Christ Jesus. You need not be a theologian to know Him. An open heart and a mind prepared for submission to His will, can invites Him in and He will ‘live in us.’
Christ is the Full Revelation of God! John tells us that "The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us." (John 1:14, CEV) Do you trust Him, friend? Will you give Him first place in your life? When He corrects will you respond with obedience? When He gives light and love to you, will you respond with worship and praise?
Philip, one of His disciples, asked Him to reveal God to them. Jesus answered him this way. “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." (John 14:9-10, NIV) Invite Him, my friend, to show you what cannot be seen with natural eyes or discerned in a laboratory. In Him, you will find life’s Truth.
The word from the Word for today is both challenging and comforting. Receive the Truth. "(People) perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter." (2 Thessalonians 2:10-15, NIV)
Lord, show us the Way, lead us to Light and Life, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
(Video of this blog at this link)
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(A beautiful, heart-felt prayer. Pray along with this song.)
Be Thou my vision
O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me
Save that Thou art
Thou my best thought
By day or by night
Waking or sleeping
Thy presence my light
Be Thou my wisdom
Be Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee
And Thou with me Lord
Thou my great Father
I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling
And I with Thee one
High King of heaven
When vict'ry is won
May I reach heaven's joys
O bright heaven's Sun
Heart of my own heart
Whatever befall
Still be my vision
O Ruler of all
Eleanor Henrietta Hull | Mary Elizabeth Byrne
© Words: Public Domain
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