Last week we talked about meditation on the word of God even when life seems to be going every way but the right one. Willy shared about his week of having to struggle though his time in the word and the choice that he made to meditated upon it.
But why? Why bother with it? I go to read my bible and it seems there are suddenly a hundred other things to do, and sometimes even washing the dishes looks better than cracking open a bible. Every thing of this world pulls and tugs at my soul. Its a constant noise inside my head. Bigger, better, stronger, faster. This other thing is what will really make you happy. This other way will lead you to success and self-fulfillment.
You can call it slick advertisement, a good campaign, media marketing, or what ever, but I call them lies. Willy was right last week when he said that commercials have the ability to manipulate our thinking. I wasnt even thirsty but now after that commercial all I want to drink is a big, old refreshing coca-cola. After watching the commercial I was convinced of my need for something to satisfy a desire I didnt really even have.
And it rips us off. Because we have some real needs in our lives that the world would love to just ignore and push in the corner. Because the world cant package it, sell it, or market it in a way that makes them a buck.
But Christ came that we might have life and life to the fullest! This is not an empty promise. I have become such a skeptic some times because nothing ever seems to live up to its promises. The refreshing taste of coke that makes you go AHH! is actually the acid in the Coke burning away the lining of your esophagus. Its the same stuff you use to take chrome off of metal. And I'm afraid that Christs promises might not actually be TRUE. Draw near to me and I will draw near to you. He says to us. So because we have been burned by every thing false in this world, we fear to draw towards the one true thing, the one true reality in this world.
We are so messed up we are not even sure what truth really is. The word gets thrown around all these days. Wanna be rappers say true that, double true. People go in to court and promise to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth when in fact they are totally prepared to lie. Philosophers and poets say they are searching for the deeper truths while espousing nothing more than their own personal take on life. Even Pilate when he was questioning Jesus said, What is truth?
When I go to describe a particular aspect of an object, the chair is white, the wall is brown, 2 2=4, these are all statements that can be either proven or disproved. No the chair is actually yellow and the wall is green but 2 2=4. And then theres another sort of truth. The yellow chair is better that the white one. Well why? And then I list off a list of reasons why I think this to be true, and none of them really convince you and you say well its great that you think the yellow one is better but I think the white one is better. Are you right or am I right. We cant both be right, right? This is where we realize that we maybe using words like truth and right far too loosely. I would say that what we call truth actually falls into one of two categories. The first is a description of reality the other is an expression of opinion. Often times its easy to see which category something falls in. Two plus two = four. Thats a description of reality. Rocky road is the best flavor of ice cream. Thats an opinion; it would have to be, why else would they make other flavors then. Some times its not so easy. How about Texas is big Well it is right? Thats reality. Well big compared to what? Big compared to New Hampshire, absolutely. Big, compared to South America, probably not. Its actually a statement of opinion. Now the statement that Texas is 3 times the size of California is a description of reality
Now one of the reasons that it can be hard for us to distinguish between the two types is that a successful marketer is trying to get you to believe that their opinion is actually a description of reality. And then they take things that are reality and call them just an opinion
Because theres lots of opinions out there about Jesus. He was just a man. He was a good teacher, a prophet. He didnt really die and rise from the dead. Wasnt he married to Mary Magdalene, didnt he come to America and preach to the Indians. And then what about Muslims, and Buddhists and triibalists, what about their traditions and beliefs. Doesnt that make Christianity and Jesus just another opinion among many.
No. Jesus himself said, I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except though me. Thats pretty exclusive language. And what backs that up? What makes that not just Jesus opinion, but a description of reality? Wheres the proof.
I know lots of guys who could give you good reasons how I can know that God exists, that Jesus was God, and that the bible is true. They are good reasons, I know some of them and Id be happy to share some of them if you want to come talk to me about them or drop me a line over the Internet.
But reason I know that Jesus and the word are true is because of a changed lives. Because of my changed life. You see theres third category of truth. It describes reality, but not reality as we see it. Its the reality of God. When we went to Chicago one of the guys speaking hit on this. He said 2 2=4 but that doesnt change your life. It is the truth in Gods word to us that will make an impact on our lives. But is it up to us to sort through every thing thats thrown at us during the day? In a way yes. We are to take our thoughts captive, which means examining what we are thinking about and then realizing where that thought comes from and what to do with that thought.
But we have a helper in this. Thank God that we have a helper. When Jesus was hanging out with his disciples the day before his execution, he spoke in detail about the Holy Spirit who was to come, John 16:13 I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
Do you get that? God himself has promised to lead us into the truth, to teach us the truth and yet few of us take the time to listen an follow God who is waiting to tell you great and mighty things which we do not know (Jer 33:3) We just need be willing to listen. And that requires being in the word on a regular basis, of meditating on the word, and of struggling through the drawings of our own flesh.
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