TRUTH—THE LIGHT OF LIFE

 

 

What we think and believe is of great importance. It serves as the foundation for all else—our attitudes, relationship ships, goals, decisions, and actions.

 

To use an extreme example—If you believe that your mailman wants you dead, it will affect everything else. If instead you believe that he truly cares about you, this will have the opposite effect. Likewise, if I discovered that my wife had married me because I reminded her of her first flame, this would crush me and our relationship. Why? We all want to be loved for who we are rather than a fantasy.

 

God also cares about what we believe about Him. Jesus and Samaritan women were discussing religion. She had been convinced that the differences among religions were minor. They differed merely in a matter of geography—the places of worship. However, Jesus corrected her:

 

·       Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21-24)

 

Worship and a relationship with God had to be based upon truth, according to the revelations given to the Jews, and upon the nature of God rather than what we wanted God to be. Instead, He must be loved for who He is.

 

However, according to Jesus, ordinarily, we are more concerned about the opinions of people than those of God:

 

·       “How can you believe [correctly], when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44)

 

We will never find stability when it depends on the validation and approval that comes from man. Instead, this pursuit will become a never-satisfied, life-controlling addiction to finding love and approval in all the wrong places.

 

Instead, we must seek the validation that only can come from the Creator. This is to build our foundation on bedrock. Without a solid foundation, the house we build upon it cannot be solid:

 

·       “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

 

Our lives must be built upon the bedrock of truth. Everything we do requires truth, whether it is the truth about maintaining a roof, car, or a relationship, especially our enduring relationship with God.

 

Ours is not primarily a performance-based relationship, but one based upon trusting a God who loves us so that He died for us, even though we had hated Him (Romans 5:8-10). Consequently, we are safe in Him:

 

·       “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)

 

Jesus has promised us the very things we must believe to have peace and freedom. Why peace?

 

·       When we fail and our conscience convicts us, we find complete forgiveness in Him.

·       We belong to Him and are beloved above anything we can imagine (Ephesians 3:19).

·       We can trust in Him and are perfectly safe in the One who has become our Master and Shepherd.

·       Even if we are martyred, we go to be with Him for all eternity!

 

Why freedom?

·       We are no longer guilt- or accomplishment-driven.

·       Knowing we are beloved, we don’t need to be affirmed by others.

·       We are convinced that we have the truth and have a meaning and purpose in serving our Creator and Redeemer.

·       We have been enabled to courageously live according to the dictates of our conscience and not against them.

Without these truths, the oppressive, contradictory, and changing opinions of man fill the vacuum.