Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Spirit of Truth
Interesting to see that when He (the helper, the Spirit of truth) comes, He will convict the world of sin, but He will guide believers into all the truth.
I did a search on the phrase "the truth." 64 out of 74 occurances are in the New Testament. About 1/3 of these are in John's writings. Another large group is in Romans.
A few come to mind: men traded the truth of God for a lie, men did not love the truth and therefore could not come to salvation, false Christian leaders are always learning, but are unable to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Lynda said "what's the opposite?" I thought, well, the devil was a liar from the beginning. He does not stand in the truth.
But then I realized that there are certainly degrees of a lie. There are not degrees of truth, however. ("No lie is of the truth," "we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.") So, there is no such thing as a "half truth."
An outright lie is the easiest to detect. Slight and deceptive lies are more difficult to detect.
What I've discovered is that in times of wickedness (or in "end" times), men will believe and embrace the lie rather than the truth.
That is just the case today - leaders can speak an outright lie and people believe it. The next day they can contradict it with another lie and they will believe that. If they are confronted with the contradiction, they defend the man!
People buy into bold-faced lies. They don't even need to be disguised any longer. That is scary.
It is also when Psalm 37 speaks to me. "Do not fret because of evil doers, because of the wicked who prosper ... cease from anger ... for it only leads to evil doing." Instead, trust, do good, cultivate faithfulness, delight in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord ..."
So, instead, to paraphrase the Psalm, I need to redirect my focus and be filled with joy!! I need to focus on God, focus on good, focus on the opportunities for good and for ministry that God has placed in my path today.
Lord, help my focus today be on You and on how You want me to live today, and not be caught up in the world - that Your joy may be in me, and my joy may be complete. How amazing is that -- that I can be filled with joy today!
I did a search on the phrase "the truth." 64 out of 74 occurances are in the New Testament. About 1/3 of these are in John's writings. Another large group is in Romans.
A few come to mind: men traded the truth of God for a lie, men did not love the truth and therefore could not come to salvation, false Christian leaders are always learning, but are unable to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Lynda said "what's the opposite?" I thought, well, the devil was a liar from the beginning. He does not stand in the truth.
But then I realized that there are certainly degrees of a lie. There are not degrees of truth, however. ("No lie is of the truth," "we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.") So, there is no such thing as a "half truth."
An outright lie is the easiest to detect. Slight and deceptive lies are more difficult to detect.
What I've discovered is that in times of wickedness (or in "end" times), men will believe and embrace the lie rather than the truth.
That is just the case today - leaders can speak an outright lie and people believe it. The next day they can contradict it with another lie and they will believe that. If they are confronted with the contradiction, they defend the man!
People buy into bold-faced lies. They don't even need to be disguised any longer. That is scary.
It is also when Psalm 37 speaks to me. "Do not fret because of evil doers, because of the wicked who prosper ... cease from anger ... for it only leads to evil doing." Instead, trust, do good, cultivate faithfulness, delight in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord ..."
So, instead, to paraphrase the Psalm, I need to redirect my focus and be filled with joy!! I need to focus on God, focus on good, focus on the opportunities for good and for ministry that God has placed in my path today.
Lord, help my focus today be on You and on how You want me to live today, and not be caught up in the world - that Your joy may be in me, and my joy may be complete. How amazing is that -- that I can be filled with joy today!
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