Wednesday, August 16, 2017
“What is TRUTH?”
“Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.” John 18:36-38 (ESV)
We live in a world where society says what is right and wrong, good and bad. Politicians, Hollywood, the media, and ‘pop culture’ tries to define truth in whatever way is convenient for their agenda at that time. We have turned our backs on God because of the hardness of our hearts, and exchanged His truth for a lie. We tell ourselves all sorts of feel good things because if we do not fan the flames of our wickedness constantly, we will burn down to the bitter ashes the enemy wants us to be instead of being on FIRE for God.
It is for this reason our society has tried to erase the existence of God, as if we could actually do such a thing. We have exchanged the government, which God and the founders gave to us, for a corrupt system of wickedness in which we reward lawlessness, corruption, and deceit. In our grand experiment, we have tried and failed to legislate morality. Not once, but over and over again. We have changed from God’s ways to our ways so that it can be more difficult not to offend people. We have become obsessed with our ever-growing infatuation with not offending anyone but Christians and those who stand in the defense of Christians and the nation God intended us to be. We spend every penny and nearly every waking moment worrying about either what people think or how to please ourselves or others. Little, if any, time or anything is allotted to God.
As humans, we establish our self worth based on what people think of us. Even those of us that are very strong and can blow off the criticism of others can be deeply wounded by what our friends and loved ones think of us. We think that we can live good lives and be rewarded by others for doing so in the form of respect and appreciation. Some of us try to live good lives because we should, yet we look to the world for guidance and a measure of success. Why do we look to the world and not to God? We want to live in this kingdom but have the power from God’s kingdom to enjoy the pleasures of this one.
How can we really know the truth when we see it? Sin has so corrupted every aspect of our being that it takes the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to us through God’s Word. It is the same reason you can read a passage over and over and it means something new every time while remaining the same truth it has always been! No matter how noble our intentions are, it is pride and arrogance that we are guilty of when we look to others for validation in our sense of self worth instead of God and His Word. When we look to others instead of God, we disobey His truth. No matter how noble and pure we think our intentions may be, if they contradict God’s truth they are evil and sinful. We live in a world where we think change can only be affected by us through our works and good intentions. We have even done all that we can to draw away from the fact that God is the creator and we are the creation.
Some will say: “But God created us to have free will, right?” “So only we can change our situation, right?” “We have to do the best we can for ourselves, right?” The danger about that way of thinking is we disarm ourselves just like the enemy wants. Yes, God gave us free will and He will let our choices play out. Yes, God wants us to have good lives, but not at the expense of a relationship with Him. We also have that same free will to choose to live and walk in the power that Jesus Christ has left for all of us (who choose to believe in Him) – the Holy Spirit.
The enemy wants us to talk about what WE can do instead of what GOD can do. He wants us to believe in the self-help nonsense. Self-help. Think about it. If you are having trouble, does it make sense to expect that you can fix the problems you created? I will tell you what, if you want strength and freedom – give up and give in! Give up yourself, your ways, your problems, and your weaknesses. Give in to Jesus, to His way, to His solution, and to His power!
Only Jesus can change you, help you, heal you, strengthen you, save you, and restore you! He does that through His Word, His Spirit, and His Body (other believers). Do not be comfortless in the wicked world of worry and shame because of sin. Do not give up hope or be powerless by believing the lie that God no longer works in us anymore.
Does your life revolve around trying to be the best for God and everyone else that you could be, yet it never is enough? Just the idea that we can live like that causes so much pain and heartache because you can never achieve that without Christ. Or does your life revolve around being obedient to God’s will in your life, which causes you to do good? There is a difference.
I had to accept that my worth has to be rooted in Christ’s righteousness and not in my own. As hard as it was for me to accept, God did not just see my intentions and forgive my actions. God sees all the heart and all the mind. He finds us all unworthy. Once I accepted that God was not wanting a relationship with me because of my worth, but because of His love for me, I found the freedom I had been looking for. Find your freedom in Christ today!
My worth is now based on the FACT that God robed Himself in flesh as Jesus Christ and died on the cross for my sins, to redeem me to Him, because I had value in His eyes, not my own. I fought the fact that I would have to throw out the way of thinking that I grown accustomed to. However, when you are faced with truth, what can you do? I always wondered what the answer would’ve been to Pilate’s question, “what is truth?”. Do you wonder that? Do you know what truth is? I know now that the truth is that the lies of the enemy and his system of judgment and condemnation, of questioning yourself and God, has been absolutely CRUSHED in Jesus Christ and the redemptive work He did for you and I on the cross.
Find out for yourself the power of freedom that exists for you in Jesus Christ! Let the Holy Spirit indwell you and fill you, empowering you to Always Live In View of Eternity to Understand and walk in your Spiritual Authority! Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith. Commit to walking with Christ! Walking is an action, and you will need to take action. If you are expecting to have a light switch moment, you are going to be in for disappointment most likely. Very few times do I believe that happens. I think God wants us to take that step of faith. Peter walked on water because he had faith and he took action on that faith. Take action on your faith! Believe on Jesus and receive Him! Do not look to yourself or feelings and emotions to evaluate your walk – that is when Peter sank! Keep your eyes on Jesus Christ through His Word. Let His Spirit guide you in the TRUTH of HIS WORD!
Father God, let me take action today by believing that Your word is truth! I want to stand on the truth and live my life for Jesus Christ, empowered to speak His truth to others that they might know You. Father, help my self worth to be based on Your love and what I am worth to You, which is everything. Give us strength to break free of the bondage of condemnation and judgment. Free us of doubt and fear. Teach us your ways, Lord. I pray that You bless those who read this. Protect them and keep them safe. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!
Rev. Christopher B. Cain
Minister of Evangelism and Discipleship
ALIVE Ministries USA