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What
Is Truth? PRECIOUS, "Buy the
truth and sell it not" (Proverbs 23:23), Therefore it's Precious. If you
really value the genuine article, you'll pay the price, but if you want a
cheap copy, you'll save money now to take the risk of losing quality later. PRACTICAL, "Little
children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and
truth. Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our
heart before him" (I Jon 3:18-19). Therefore it's very Practical. Doing
what is right for the right reason is what God's aim is in our life. We are
blessed (happy) if we do love one another in deed and truth, John 13:14-17
& James 1:25. PERSONIFIED,
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into
all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but whatsoever he shall
hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are
to come". (John 16:13). The truth is not the Holy Spirit, but God
Personifies His Self as working with nothing but the truth. John says in, 1
John 5:6 "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ;
not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears
witness, because the Spirit is truth." Because God's Spirit is so real
and genuine, He cannot work with anything but the facts. God cannot lie,
(Titus 1:2). Jesus while on earth said, He is the truth, the way and the
life, Jn. 14:6. PILLAR, "men ought
to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1st Timothy 3:15). Therefore the
truth has a Pillar, that pillar is the church, you and me as Christians ! If
we are dressed immodestly, we are not behaving as a pillar of truth, because
the world cannot see the truth if we look like the world. Would you were
immodest dress to any kind of public memorial service in honouring our
nations heroes? Would Jesus wear it? We are lying to the world if we do not
behave as we ought to in church. Support the truth as a pillar should. POWERFUL, 'For I am not
ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God for salvation to every one
that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek". Therefore we
know the truth of the gospel is Powerful, Romans 1:16. God's power is
unobtrusive and is offered to you, not forced upon you. PIERCING & PAINFUL,
Acts 2:37-39. The truth isn't painful, it's just your position when you hear
it which hurts. Change, believe and obey it from the heart, and you'll see
how good the truth is. PURIFYING, "Since
you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth with sincere love
for the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently" The best and precise
definition of the truth, may best be described by the Psalmist, "The sum
of Thy word is truth", Psalm 119:160. Could anybody seriously doubt the
Bible as being the epitome of truth? Especially in view of such an array of
harmonious testimonies from different times and characters from the past ,
which is in total harmony with our experience today. If we are still in
doubt, then we must examine evidence of the New Testament itself, outside of
our personal experience. The New Testament is
the most well copied ancient document in the world. Museums all over the
world contain several hundreds of manuscripts of the New Testament. If you
study comparisons of the copies, you'll see an amazing clarity and
consistency in each of them, declaring that someone other than humanity as
been at work in creating and maintaining such a vast array of comparable
copies. God the Holy Spirit has used holy men in the past to write it, and
through the ages he has used holy people to preserve it. The New Testament
has had many enemies, book burnings, facists and athiests galore try to
eliminate it from the world's attention, but alas, the word of God is still
used effectively by His Spirit to give us faith. So read it prayerfully, and
watch God work. This is the challenge met very well by noble people in the
past (Acts 17:11), can you meet this challenge? Yes, but only by God's
gracious help. This is the nature of truth, it is living and active, and
dwells within God's word, Hebrews 4:12. By
Jeff Wealand |