The Truth part 1
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. That's where I'm at these days. He is the Way to love. The Truth about love. The Life of love. So... as we saw in the last Rant series, the Way TO love is the Way OF love. That straight and narrow path that leads to life. Because living is loving and loving is living. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. And in the same way (see what I did there?) truth and love aren't just connected. They are the same thing. If its not love, its not the truth. Look at Ephesians 4:13-15, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Did you catch the difference there between being childlike and childish? Its good to be childlike. To let your heavenly Father take care of you. But if you're being childish you'll believe any old thing that sounds good and you won't know if you're coming or going. Anyway, here's where I wanted to start this Rant series: Speaking the truth in love. And that doesn't mean this kind of horrible idea of "tough love" that we seem to have adopted where we say mean things and then shrug and say, "Truth hurts." That's not speaking the truth in love. At all. Because even if you do have to tell someone something that they don't want to hear... there's a way in which you can do it (or at least try to do it) without causing them harm. The truth doesn't hurt. It sets you free and makes you free. But we'll get to that in the next few days. My thought for today is "Speaking." Because there's a difference between KNOWING the truth, and SPEAKING the truth. And they're both important, don't get me wrong. But one is more powerful than the other. Because you have to know the truth before you can speak it, but if you know it and don't speak it... it doesn't do as much good. I'm trying to say we are blessed to be a blessing. We ought to use what we have for the benefit of others. As my pastor would always say, "If you know it... throw it!" Things are more (most) real when they are shared. And sharing the truth is what we, as witnesses, are supposed to do. Is there anything more powerful than someone with a PhD? Someone who Personally Has Done It? I'm convinced that a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. Because people can think whatever they want, but when you KNOW something... well... you know it. And when you know the truth, you can ignore the lie. (We'll get into that concept too. I'm just trying to build a foundation today.) And here's where I want to end: Truth is higher than fact. So it doesn't matter what things look like. We walk (and live) by faith, not by sight. The fact of matter might be that it looks pretty bleak. But the truth of the matter is that God is love and He loves you. The truth of the matter is, all things work together for good. The truth of the matter is that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. The Truth about love is that God is love... that WE ARE love!