Knowing the Truth

Once we have accepted the Truth we must brace ourselves to explore and deal with the consequences of the Truth. For instance, if I am one day confronted with the fact that X is true, and Y contradicts X, then Y is no longer true, even if I have believed in Y my whole life. If my whole life is based on Y being true, then my whole life is going to change. The more I experience X, the more things about Y I discover to be wrong.

We should use the word "know" in its original sense: intimate experience and oneness. "Adam knew his wife Eve", meaning they had intercourse with one another. It is not a mental assent or head knowledge, i.e. "Oh I know that." It is a coming into union with Truth experientially and existentially. The Truth is there for us to know, but we cannot know the Truth until we accept it. The prophet does not (or should not) just bring a message, the prophet IS the message. If the message has not changed the messenger then it is nothing but empty words. Once we accept it we will be changed by it. Truth is not Truth if it has not changed you. If it is an ethereal thing out in space that you can just pontificate about then it is not Truth.

When we know the Truth, that is, when we are one with Truth so that it is ours experientially and not just theoretically, then the Truth will make us free. Talking about Truth will not make us free, but knowing it will. How do we know it? Through experience. I daresay we do not know the Truth through study. Oh, we can learn about it through study, but we cannot know it through study. To know it is to live it. To live it is to know it. What are you doing with it? Has it changed you? That is what makes it Truth.

Not once have I talked about understanding the Truth, and there is a reason. We cannot seek understanding as a thing in itself. If we know the Truth then understanding will follow, but knowing is never the result of understanding. Indeed, we often mistake understanding for knowing, at our peril. If our understanding does not flow out of our knowing, then our understanding will eventually be revealed as misunderstanding.

Superbowl

Who are you going to root for this Sunday during the Superbowl?

Big cup of Coffee

Morning coffee!!!

Psalm67

 

He who kneels before God,
Can stand  before anyone....
May God be gracious to us,
& bless us,& makes His face
shine upon us....
Psalm67......

Accepting The Truth

We are often unprepared for Truth, which is why Truth is revealed to us progressively. We must "grow up into Him" - we could not handle it otherwise. Even the little bit of Truth which is revealed to us often upsets us at our deepest foundations. We must be willing to live with the uncertainty and pain which Truth brings. Here again is another point in which many people turn back. People prefer ignorant bliss to uncomfortable Truth. Now that they have been given the Truth, it is too painful or inconvenient to deal with. They either fall back into their former ignorance or they rationalize or dilute the Truth until it is no longer Truth. They turn it into something which is more palatable and easily digested.

But if we accept the Truth, and totally give ourselves to it, it will begin to change us. We will begin to be conformed to it, and it will become less painful. I am convinced that if we refuse to accept the Truth we have been given then we will eventually lose it. Jesus concludes His parable of the talents by saying, "The one that has will have more added to him, and the one who does not have will have what little he has taken away." The one who buries the Truth in the ground for safekeeping will lose it, while the one who does something with the Truth will receive more Truth. This is why some grow spiritually and some do not. Even though they may acknowledge the same Truth, they may not be willing to accept the consequences of being transformed by that Truth, thus what little they have soon becomes dead manna.

Matthew,5:5

"The meek are blessed, because they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

The ways of the world say that in order to be stronger, we must build ourselves up and seek strength and dominance over others. Christians everywhere are keenly interested in how to be increased, how to be stronger, how to take authority, how to rise up, how to get more. They look for methods, formulas, and techniques for becoming bigger and better. The results have been disappointing. Many mistakes have been made and many people have been hurt and disillusioned.

The Lord has a different approach for us to take. He invites us to accept weakness in order to be strengthened. We do not become strong by embracing strength, but by embracing weakness! This is the secret of all spiritual power. When Paul learned this secret he was able to say, "When I am weak, then I am strong" (II Corinthians 12:10b). This makes no sense to the natural man. I do not remember ever hearing anyone begin a teaching on spiritual warfare with this verse. It is no wonder, then, that these teachings never seem to produce any lasting fruit.