Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Yesterday was a day of remembrance for me. About a year ago, my devotion discussed when it was good to be ‘that guy’ who was a humble servant of God. Yesterday, I found myself being excited to be a member of ‘that church’. Let me give you a picture of what it looks like. We had a service where all we did was hear testimonies both by baptism and stories of transformation. There were stories as short as a young child who was getting a baptized because his parents said so and as long as a man whose life went from being incarcerated to finding peace with Christ. There were people whose families followed God and influenced them all of their life. And there were others who just picked up the Bible and found salvation just through reading. Some people built closer relationships with God through their small groups, and others through deep prayer and reflection by themselves. It was a full range of emotions and experiences, and all spoke of God’s awesome power.
It was a reminder of a couple of fundamental truths about God. First, there is no one right path to God. There are many paths, and none are better than the other. No matter what your path was, know it was that way for a reason, and God will use that very path to not only guide you in your journey of faith but also help someone else. It is how God is able to reach so many. People who are lost can always find a story that is tailor made to fit them at a time that is optimal for their hearing. It is part of God’s perfection; being able to find the right message at the right time for that person. Second, God truly is the great and holy redeemer. No matter whom we are and how closely we have lived our lives in accordance to God’s law, all of us fall short of His glory. There is no way that we can fix or reconcile it on our own. However through Jesus Christ, we are given the gift of grace, which reconciles our level of sin and gets rid of our greatest barrier between us and God; guilt.
Our God truly transforms lives. No one or nothing is more personal in their relationship with us, and there is no greater influence of big change than God. If you question it, just ask a Christian you know “why.” Why did they choose Jesus? Why do they believe in Him? Make sure you ask for the long version. As you hear the stories of transformation and truth, you will soon begin to understand why our God is truly all knowing, and if you would allow yourself, be humbled by the sheer awesome experience of how one becomes God’s child and transformed. It can be a story of love, redemption, change, confirmation, dedication, verification, and a bunch of other things because God is everything. My prayer is that we embrace the true symbolism of God’s redemptive story of change. Amen.
Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts
Monday, June 28, 2010
Too Good to Be True
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32
One of the most frustrating to me is ‘reading the fine print.’ A prime example of that was when I was in Best Buy purchasing a DVD player, and they asked me if I wanted to get 3 free issues of Sports Illustrated. “Sure! It’s an offer too good to be true,” I thought to myself. All I had to do was cancel it after the 3 issues were received. Or so I thought. Apparently, I had to cancel before my 3rd issue had arrived. It was of great surprise to me when I saw the $59.99 charge on my credit card just before I had received my final issue. Needless to say they did cancel it, but of course if I had read the fine print, I would have cancelled it as soon as I got home. Of course, the Best Buy employee had simply omitted this fact from the conversation we had. The bottom line was if she had told me the whole story, I probably would not have agreed to the offer in the first place.
In scripture, we will often hear of specific verses in the Bible only to find in reading them in context, it has an entirely different meaning. In looking at John 8:31-32, many of us know the 32nd verse (Then you will know the truth . . . ), which is what most people will recite when confronted by someone who they believe is not being above board. An individual will speak of the so called ‘truth’, and therefore they are soon to be liberated. However in studying this closer, ‘the ‘truth’ spoken of here is not about being truthful at all. ‘The Truth’ here speaks of God’s glory, and once revealed, it has ultimate power. Jesus is the light of the world, which He spoke of earlier in this same chapter (verse 12), and as is stated in today’s verse, He speaks of “the truth.” His truth is that of being God’s only son; the Son of Man, and to believe in this is to set us free from all sin. This is much more powerful than discussing whether we gain favor by being truthful or not. Thus by using this verse in reference to general truth, we are like that Best Buy employee not telling the full story. Again, the truth that sets us free is that Jesus Christ is God the Son, and that only through Him are we free from God’s condemnation of our sins. This is not to say that being untruthful is not sinful as stated in the ninth commandment. However by acknowledging what God’s true intent is here, we gain something greater (salvation) than what we will sometimes try to fit it into (freedom from the guilt of untruths).
God wants us to fully understand what His truth is. There is no greater truth than that this; through Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, we are indeed saved if we acknowledge Him as the savior and salvation in our lives. We must be dependent on reading the word fully to understand what God is truly saying and not fall into the traps of half truths or incomplete stories. My prayer is that we are always willing to dive into the full word of God for its truths and not be subject to an offer too good to be true. Amen.
One of the most frustrating to me is ‘reading the fine print.’ A prime example of that was when I was in Best Buy purchasing a DVD player, and they asked me if I wanted to get 3 free issues of Sports Illustrated. “Sure! It’s an offer too good to be true,” I thought to myself. All I had to do was cancel it after the 3 issues were received. Or so I thought. Apparently, I had to cancel before my 3rd issue had arrived. It was of great surprise to me when I saw the $59.99 charge on my credit card just before I had received my final issue. Needless to say they did cancel it, but of course if I had read the fine print, I would have cancelled it as soon as I got home. Of course, the Best Buy employee had simply omitted this fact from the conversation we had. The bottom line was if she had told me the whole story, I probably would not have agreed to the offer in the first place.
In scripture, we will often hear of specific verses in the Bible only to find in reading them in context, it has an entirely different meaning. In looking at John 8:31-32, many of us know the 32nd verse (Then you will know the truth . . . ), which is what most people will recite when confronted by someone who they believe is not being above board. An individual will speak of the so called ‘truth’, and therefore they are soon to be liberated. However in studying this closer, ‘the ‘truth’ spoken of here is not about being truthful at all. ‘The Truth’ here speaks of God’s glory, and once revealed, it has ultimate power. Jesus is the light of the world, which He spoke of earlier in this same chapter (verse 12), and as is stated in today’s verse, He speaks of “the truth.” His truth is that of being God’s only son; the Son of Man, and to believe in this is to set us free from all sin. This is much more powerful than discussing whether we gain favor by being truthful or not. Thus by using this verse in reference to general truth, we are like that Best Buy employee not telling the full story. Again, the truth that sets us free is that Jesus Christ is God the Son, and that only through Him are we free from God’s condemnation of our sins. This is not to say that being untruthful is not sinful as stated in the ninth commandment. However by acknowledging what God’s true intent is here, we gain something greater (salvation) than what we will sometimes try to fit it into (freedom from the guilt of untruths).
God wants us to fully understand what His truth is. There is no greater truth than that this; through Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, we are indeed saved if we acknowledge Him as the savior and salvation in our lives. We must be dependent on reading the word fully to understand what God is truly saying and not fall into the traps of half truths or incomplete stories. My prayer is that we are always willing to dive into the full word of God for its truths and not be subject to an offer too good to be true. Amen.
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