Are You Living by the Truth?
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32
People today seem to think that everyone has their own truth, but the only real truth comes from God, and his truth is revealed in his Word. Many people refuse to seek God’s truth and choose to remain comfortable in justifying their own truths. Most Christians seek God’s truth; however we are all biased in our understanding of the truth and in our living by the truth.
Then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23) How might we interpret this scripture: “deny self, follow Christ”? At one extreme we might live our normal days and if someone happens to bring up a spiritually-oriented conversation, we might engage. At the other extreme we routinely seek opportunities to encourage and speak Christ to people, and we are always conscious of reflecting Christ-like behavior. Most Christians live somewhere in between these extremes based on their understanding, but what’s important is God’s expectation for us in obeying this scripture.
Let’s look at what other scriptures say about this, because living by one scripture makes it easy to justify our own desires, and is therefore dangerous. The Word is to be understood as a whole, as scriptures together reveal the truth through the heart of God. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) We are guided by the Holy Spirit, step by step, which makes our consciences sensitive to the will of God as the Spirit molds us to have the mind of Christ. But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:10) Just as Jesus lived to minister to lost souls, we are to minister to lost souls. The Spirit will guide us to be sensitive to the needs of others and will lead us to help through encouragement, listening, and other appropriate ways. This is walking in the Spirit, and the more we help others the more love God puts in our hearts, enabling us to seek those we can help and tell about Christ.
The Spirit will lead us to use the talents that God has given each of us. If the Spirit calls you to serve the Lord, know with preparation God will enable your talent. You may be led to teach a class, minister to a brother or sister, listen to and encourage someone, provide a Bible to someone, or invite someone to Church. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:40) This is how we show our love to God, by reflecting his love to others. A heart that desires to help and bring Christ to others is a heart that lives by the truth.
Today seek to live by God’s truth by following the Spirit. When we know God’s will, there is no need for justification of our own desires. Justification is only needed when we want to choose our own wills over God’s will.
Let’s Pray: Lord, help me to know the truth and to seek to obey your will. Guide my heart to live by your divine truth, guided by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.