Truth

 Truth as a Person,

Today, there seems to be a cloud around what truth is.  As we watch life unfold, it seems clear that humanity is crying out for the truth, and is in search for it. The question is, how do we find truth and what does it look like?  Scripture reveals where to find truth in the following passage.

"Jesus answered, "I am the way the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6, NIV).

"Jesus talked a lot about truth.  Note how often the word occurs in the gospel of John.  When he spoke about truth, Jesus spoke in personal terms.  You will remember that he refused, much to the dismay of many people, particularly the philosophers, to speak of truth in abstraction, as though it existed in itself.  He wanted to relate truth to himself and to his Father in an existential way.  He even went beyond that; he ultimately identified truth completely with himself and his Father.

The temple authorities, troubled by Jesus and wanting to know the truthfulness of his message, challenged him.  He responded, "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God" (John 7:17).

Jesus thus affirmed the truthfulness of his own teaching in terms of relationship to his Father.  Sometimes we would like to translate that answer into "Anyone who does the truth will certainly know it."  But that is not the way Jesus spoke or thought.  We should never be fooled.  There was no truth for Jesus apart from the Father.  Truth was simply the Father's will.  Thus personal categories are appropriate when we speak of truth because the ultimate categories are all personal.  Ultimately, Jesus is the truth.

If we develop a love affair with the truth and pursue it far enough, we will find the truth.  When we find it, we will have found Jesus and that he is the one we need.  The shortcut to it all is found in his simple words, "Come unto me." Have you come?" (Kinlaw, June 17).

    Kinlaw, Dennis. This Day With the Master: 365 Daily Meditations. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002.

I am sending you!

    It is incredible how God wants people, He wants us, to be involved in His plans and purposes.  I have been thinking of the life of Moses and how God used him as His instrument to free people from Egyptian slavery.  The Lord said to Moses "Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.  Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharoah that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:9-10, NKJV).

    As you dig deeper into these passages you can see that Moses understands he is not capable to do this on his own power.  God called Moses anyway.  Moses recognized, that apart from God, the task was too big.  Moses is one of many Old Testaments examples, that demonstrates a completely surrendered life God.  When we realize we are wholly reliant on God, and uncapable in our own power, that is when God uses us most effectively.  God called many people throughout Scripture to be instruments of God's plans and He is still calling us today!

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21, NIV)

    Dennis Kinlaw wrote something that spoke to me and I hope it speaks to you as well.  "The Good Shephard commands his sheep to follow Him!  Following Christ is an all-engaging commitment of one's life and heart.  Jesus says that this is how it must be; he must be the leader and controller of one's life.  Therefore, we must have holy hearts.  The human desire is to manage our own lives; we are hesitant to release control because we might face unexpected demands or unpleasantness.  But we are never safe until we have taken our hands off the control knob and have forfeited our right to ourselves, so that Jesus is in full control.

    If Jesus gains the right to spend us the way he pleases, there will be miracles in our lives.  Just as he broke five loaves and two fish, providing food to the multitude, so there will be fruit in our own lives.  We will live as Jesus, who gave up his life for his sheep.

    For every person there comes a day when Jesus says, "Follow me."  Have you come to the place where you are ready to be a living sacrifice?  Let Christ spill you, use you, and pour you out in the way he pleases.  Let Jesus give you to whom he will.  Take your hands off your life, and let him put his hands on your life.

    There is a world out there.  Jesus has shown us the way to win it: his Father sent him to lay down his life.  Now he is sending you" (Kinlaw).

References

    Kinlaw, Dennis. This Day With the Master: 365 Daily Meditations. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002.