How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four; calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. -Abraham Lincoln
Ryan asked me the other day, "What should our untimate quest be?" Wanting to receive my gold sticker for the day, I answered with, "Jesus." (and a smile, 'cause I was right.) "Nope," he says, "Truth. It will lead you to Jesus, sure, but Truth is what we should strive for."
Sitting at dinner with my family, I was confronted with this. "What is truth?" They had an answer of their own. "Well, it is subjective. My truth is not your truth." What is good for you may not be good for me. Anything goes, really. - We were in a no limits conversation. If you have a thought, just throw it out there regardless of little ears or appropriate bounds. Most of the time, the conversation comes back around to how ridiculous all of those Jesus followers are anyway. -It seems to me that those who know the least about God have the most negative things to say about Him and His people. Those who have read the Bible the least have the most commentary to share about it.
Ryan asked me the other day, "What should our untimate quest be?" Wanting to receive my gold sticker for the day, I answered with, "Jesus." (and a smile, 'cause I was right.) "Nope," he says, "Truth. It will lead you to Jesus, sure, but Truth is what we should strive for."
Sitting at dinner with my family, I was confronted with this. "What is truth?" They had an answer of their own. "Well, it is subjective. My truth is not your truth." What is good for you may not be good for me. Anything goes, really. - We were in a no limits conversation. If you have a thought, just throw it out there regardless of little ears or appropriate bounds. Most of the time, the conversation comes back around to how ridiculous all of those Jesus followers are anyway. -It seems to me that those who know the least about God have the most negative things to say about Him and His people. Those who have read the Bible the least have the most commentary to share about it.
In an earlier post, I said, "How can you value something in someone if you yourself do not understand it? How can you see something in someone that you do not recognize?" Once again, I have been trying to listen to these words. Again I found myself surrounded with those who would deny and mock the God I serve. Deny that which gives me life. Mock the one who engulfs my heart in love.
Psalm 40:2
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
I feel like a failure when I can not find the words to shine a light on Truth, especially with my family. I look like a hypocrite when I sit silently while my God is being denied. I realize that God is not afraid to be questioned or denied. In fact, this just gives Him a chance to show His glory even more in the end. I also know that no words of mine will change a heart. It is only an encounter with Christ that will change a heart and mind.
John 6:61-65
Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, "Does this throw you completely? What would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from? The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this." (Jesus knew from the start that some weren't going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.) He went on to say, "This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father."
A run-in with the creator is the only thing that will transform a life. This is like a weight being lifted off of me. No words I say, nothing I do, can draw a man to God. It is only a personal encounter with the One who pours His Grace out that can change anything. But I so long to see them have that encounter. Once you have had an experience with the One, you can no longer deny His existence. Something in the depths of you has changed. All of you is brand new. Truth reaches out and grabs you and you can finally doubt your doubts. Holes can be poked into you self-made theology and all of the selfish, pleasure-seeking, convenient lies you have told yourself can drain back into the pit from which you were saved. You look back on your life and wonder at how you even lived it without the knowledge and all-encompassing experience of the Truth.
If truth is subjective, then what, exactly, is the point? There is no search for truth because it does not exist. Even your doubts about truth are you coming to a conclusion about something, and how is that possible when there is not right and wrong - no moral compass to direct you? If truth is subjective, how can we have laws or any boundaries at all? Who gets to use their truth to direct you? I just see so many holes in this argument, I feel like I am talking circles just trying to understand it.
If there is no search for Truth, then I think we can pack it in and call it a life. I guess you can go ahead and live it up first. Do as many thrill-seeking, self-destructive behaviors as you can before the lights go out and your time on earth is over. Just spend your days on earth doing whatever makes you feel happy, or numb, or entertained. Even saying that makes me feel hollow and causes me to long for something more for them. For myself.
I know the Truth. As John 8:32 says, "Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." I have been set free from myself. I have been set free from living to please me and my earthly body. I am free to love others and to allow someone else to change me from the inside out. I am free from trying to live up to some standard or rules, but instead to allow the Grace of God to do what it was purposed to do. When I really allow God's Grace to cover me, I am truly free to worship and have intimate interactions with an Infinite God.
John 4:23
"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
But, what if truth subjective after all? What if I am wrong, even in my certainty? This is what I know. My life has meaning. My life is rich with Love and Grace. My life is worth living because of the One who died so that it may be. "I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia." - C.S. Lewis. My prayer is that those I love will decide to join me on this journey next to a God who has already forgiven them but waits only for them to accept it. I pray that they will choose to finally listen to the Voice that calls to them when they are quiet and most honest with themselves about what is lacking in their lives. I hope that one day they can love Him because He loved them first, whether they believed it or not.
If there is no search for Truth, then I think we can pack it in and call it a life. I guess you can go ahead and live it up first. Do as many thrill-seeking, self-destructive behaviors as you can before the lights go out and your time on earth is over. Just spend your days on earth doing whatever makes you feel happy, or numb, or entertained. Even saying that makes me feel hollow and causes me to long for something more for them. For myself.
I know the Truth. As John 8:32 says, "Then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." I have been set free from myself. I have been set free from living to please me and my earthly body. I am free to love others and to allow someone else to change me from the inside out. I am free from trying to live up to some standard or rules, but instead to allow the Grace of God to do what it was purposed to do. When I really allow God's Grace to cover me, I am truly free to worship and have intimate interactions with an Infinite God.
John 4:23
"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
But, what if truth subjective after all? What if I am wrong, even in my certainty? This is what I know. My life has meaning. My life is rich with Love and Grace. My life is worth living because of the One who died so that it may be. "I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia." - C.S. Lewis. My prayer is that those I love will decide to join me on this journey next to a God who has already forgiven them but waits only for them to accept it. I pray that they will choose to finally listen to the Voice that calls to them when they are quiet and most honest with themselves about what is lacking in their lives. I hope that one day they can love Him because He loved them first, whether they believed it or not.
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2 comments:
Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you - not just physical things, but spiritual things also. Seek Jesus first, and since He IS truth, you will have that also. Our testimony is our gift from God, which He gives us opportunity to share. Be ready in season and out of season and He will give you the words at the appropriate times. If He gives you words to share with the unbeliever, boldly share. You have nothing to lose, they have everything to lose. I will pray for those opportunities for you, Ashley. God bless!
Seeking anything less than Truth is futile. If you truly believe in God and Christ and what He said, then Truth will always lead to Him. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes unto the Father except through Me." If you truly believe what Christ said, then as a believer, you must be utterly confident that Truth-seeking will always lead to Jesus. He is at the end of every Truth-road. I say seek Truth in ALL areas of life and you will find God.
As far as the emphasis of "testimony", your "salvation experience" whatever that means, is NOT your testimony. Your testimony is your LIFE - all of it. The Jewish people have always understood this - life is our calling. "The Father seeks those who worship in spirit & truth." The word spirit here harkens back to "nooma" in the OT (Genesis 2), meaning the very "breath of life" at creation. In other words, your entire life is worship & testimony. Our calling is not a single story, but our WHOLE story. As St. Francis of Assisi said: "Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words."
And finally, "For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me." Words of Christ Himself. God does the drawing, NOT us. Can we be His vehicle? Sure. But our greatest call is to Truth in everything we do. Because when the Truth is evident, the Truth will draw all those around. And Truth will set all things free...
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