Category Archives: Truth

Thirsty 

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Beer makes you thirsty.  Maybe that’s why they sell so much of it.  Same thing with pop.  If you are really thirsty, drink pure water.  When it comes to spiritual thirst, a lot of things people try act a lot like beer.  They taste good, feel good, but don’t really fix the thirst.  I’m speaking from personal experience.  Because spiritual thirst is common to all humans, there is no shortage of various “spiritual beverages” being peddled.  But if you really want to fix the thirst, fill your cup from the the Son of God.  He will give you the Spirit of God. 

As Jesus told the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  (John 4:13b-14)

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Eyewitness

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Recant or be tortured to death.  Sound like ISIS?  Many Christians have faced that choice at their hands, but for the original disciples, it was the government who made that threat.  None of them caved.  All but John were executed.  How could they have been firm, so brave and so unwilling to change their story?  They were first-hand eyewitnesses.  They knew how outlandish their claims seemed.  But they seen, heard and touched Jesus before and after His resurrection. 

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (​2Pe 1:16-17)
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  (1John 1:1-3)

Homecoming

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Have you burned your bridges to God?  Wandered too far?  Lots of people feel that way. But Jesus taught this truth:. If you want to go back, you cannot have gone too far from God.  Maybe what really is causing you to stay away is the fear you would not be received well. Jesus understood why people feel that way. That is partly why He told the story of the Prodigal Son.  To help us come to grips with God’s astonishing love and grace.

It’s easy to miss the passionate details He included.  He didn’t merely say, “The Father was glad his son returned.”. Take some time to consider what He did say, and to imagine God the Father receiving you home like this:

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  (Luke 15:20)

Jesus was not exaggerating. What are you waiting for?

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (​James 4:8a)

Just Do It

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Technical support workers will tell you most problems with computers could be avoided by following the instructions.  When the manual says to do X and our natural instinct is to do Y, we humans have a tendency to follow our own ideas.  Then our stuff breaks and we call tech support.  After 30 or 40 minutes listening to a recording tell us how important our call is, when the support person answers, most of the time they will lead us through the process of following the instructions.

Same thing applies with following Jesus.  For example, you have a terrible conflict with someone at church and go to your prayer place to “call up Tech Support.”

“This is God; how can I help you?”

“____________ is such an unpleasant person and I can’t get along with them.”

“How did you handle it?  Did you go to them by yourself and discuss it?”

“Well, no, I talked it over with my friends at Bible study.”

“You gossiped?”

“Me, gossip?  Oh, no; it was just explaining the situation for a prayer request.”

“Nope, that’s gossip.  It messes everything up.  That’s why it says don’t do it in the instructions.   How about returning a blessing fot their unpleasant behavior, have you tried that?”

“Are You serious?  A blessing?    How’s that going to help?”

“Give it a shot; it’s in the instructions…”

And so forth…

When people read computer instructions and then ignore them, chances are pretty good they are going to be waiting on hold for a half-hour for customer service to pick up.  It’s just as true with the Bible.  That’s why they should post these words over the exits from the church as a reminder to folks on the way out:

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  (James 1:22)

Crazy True

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“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?” -Albert Einstein

Einstein was by no means the first scientist to be accused of losing his mind.  Probably the guy who discovered fire was ostracized at first.  But the more science advances, the more the scientists seem crazy to the rest of us.  They say crazy things like this:  This vast universe came into being with a sudden expansion of an infinitely small and invisible “singularity.”  That’s the ‘Big Bang Theory.”   They actually believe the cosmos, so large we measure it in light years, was originally created from a tiny, invisible speck. It sounds crazy.  

Like this, written almost 2000 years ago:

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.  (​Hebrews 11:3)

Exactly

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Did you know there is a building code for how many inches there must be between the toilet and a bathroom cabinet?  Fact is, there’s codes for everything.  But if you think local building codes are fussy, have a look at the regulations God required for the tabernacle, the precursor to the temple.  You’ll find it in the book of Exodus, starting with this verse:

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.  (Exodus 25:8-9)

Back then, you had to know what a cubit was.  And measure precisely.  But why?  Why would Almighty God give the impression that, if they used the wrong dimensions He couldn’t “dwell in their midst?”  God is sovereign; He can dwell anywhere He wants.  So what’s the deal?

Every detail of the design of the tabernacle nonverbally communicates some important truth.  It’s fascinating to consider each part and ask, “What is this teaching?”  But the overall specificity, the requirement that it be built exactly according to God’s instructions, teaches a lesson easily overlooked today.  If you want to connect to God, you do so on His terms, not your own.

God is Who He is, not who we think He ought to be.  His Name is, “I AM WHO I AM.”  We don’t get to decide how to approach God.   In those days, God taught that important lesson in a rudimentary way, using tabernacle dimensions, etc.  But the lesson still holds today:

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)

 

Stop, Look and Listen

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Does God really exist?  How do you know?  We have been told by people we trust.  Most people believe in God.  But how do you know?  It’s worth asking that question every so often.  Blind faith, faith not tested by doubt, might slip across the line into weak superstition.

But how can we know?  We cannot see God.  We can’t see gravity, but every time we drop the toast, gravity does its thing.  But God is different, a living Person – not human, but Someone Who operates with mind, emotion and will.  You can’t test a person like you test a force, because he might surprise you.  He might catch the toast.  So how?

Many have found certainty for God’s existence in the complexity and vast scope of Creation.  But, perhaps the best way to know, since God is a living Person, is to do something that does not come easy for most of us.  Quiet yourself.  Shut off all the words inside.  Open the eyes of your soul.  Listen.

“Be still, and know that I am God…”  (Psalms 46:10a)

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.  (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2)

If we really listen for God’s voice, really pay attention to Him with a readiness to respond, He has no problem demonstrating the reality of His existence.  Listening to Him comes with a reward.  Jesus said:

“It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—  (John 6:45)
And… “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”  (John 6:47)

Fitting it Together

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Pick up a piece of a jigsaw puzzle and it is usually beautiful to look at.  Better yet, what happens when you fit it together with the other pieces. Same thing with the Bible.  There are people who memorize and quote individual verses of the Bible.  But the ones who get the most from their time in the Bible are those who see how it all fits together, from beginning to end.  The more time you spend digging into God’s Word, the more amazing it becomes as you see the astonishing connections.  Check it out: look at the first page or so and then read the last couple pages.  You’ll see…  And all throughout, on many different levels, it all fits together.  

But it’s not simply a matter of curiosity.  The more you see those connections, the more you understand the heartbeat of what has been written, the stronger you are for everything life throws at you.  Check it out.  You’ll see…

“…for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil”.  (Hebrews 5:13 – 14)

The Rest of the Story

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Violently persecuted in his home land, he joined a group who fled by boat, hoping for safety on some different shore.  But, what they found was terror – from pirates, from storms at sea and even from one another.  In desperation, he jumped overboard.  Soon, he was exhausted from his futile attempts to swim, surrounded by sharks and coughing up sea water with every breath.  A ship drew near and a life ring was thrown.  Should he take it?  Nothing to lose, he thought, and grabbed it.  The next thing he was aware of was waking up in a comfortable bed, washed, rested and fed.  He made his way up on deck, found a place to hide and watched intently for any kind of danger.  When the men working on deck noticed him, he raced away to the rail, preparing himself to fight or jump.

That is when he heard the voice of the captain, saying, “You are safe here and we will not hurt you.  You do not need to hide, or dash back and forth, watching and worrying about who is coming.  If you trust me, you can rest from all that.  Of course, if you are too frightened to trust me, too used to scheming and fighting to protect yourself, you can keep doing so.  I cannot force you to rest, but rather, I invite you to do so.  How about it?  Don’t you want to leave all this stress behind and rest?”

Could this be real?  Could it be true?  He had to decide: either listen to his old fears, try to protect himself and jump overboard or trust the captain and rest.

Hebrews 4, an extended warning about failing to trust God and missing out, also contains these lines about His promise of rest for those who trust:

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.”   (Hebrews 4:1)

“Now we who have believed enter that rest, …”  (Hebrews 4:3a)

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”  (Hebrews 4:7b)

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest,…”  (Hebrews 4:9-11a)

Old Wisdom

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In “When Nations Die,” Jim Nelson Black examined the common causes behind the fall of Carthage, Greece and Rome.  These powerful empires didn’t fail because they were attacked from outside; they rotted away from the inside with what Black calls “Social, Cultural and Moral Decay.”  Such decay results when the people abandon traditional wisdom and values.  People turn away from the mores and beliefs of the past and attempt to rewrite new ones, based on what they believe is new and more sophisticated thinking.   That’s what happened to Carthage.  The same process brought down the empire of Greece and then Rome.  We have seen similar attitudes and consequences in Europe and Not-so-Great-Anymore Britain.  And here.

You might think we would get the point.  That guy you just passed on the highway with his hood up?  He ignored his “Check Engine” light.  If we paid attention to history, we would see a bright, flashing “Check Engine” light on the dashboard of the United States.  But the prevailing attitude is to put tape over it and drive on.

This is more puzzling since we also see examples in history of nations that have returned to old wisdom and have prospered.  The Old Testament is full of such examples.  Rwanda is a present day demonstration of this truth.

But it’s not just any old wisdom that matters.  It’s not about hanging on to old superstitions and myths.  The old wisdom that is critical for national survival is grounded on a deep reverence for our Creator, God.  Standing in humble awe before the One for Whom quantum mechanics is two plus two.  Recognizing He just might know what works best.

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:1-6