Your word is truth … — John 17:17
I encourage people to have an experience with Jesus. Who can better deliver freeing truth than the One who is Truth?
But, thankfully, truth comes in other forms as well. Life experience delivers truth. If I put my hand on the hot stove, I have blisters for a week that remind me that hot stoves are painful to touch. Real friends deliver truth. They tell it like it is, even if it hurts. The Bible says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” That doesn’t mean that we go around hurting each other; it just means that love tells the truth. School and studies and research can deliver truth, depending. (That’s a whole other topic.)
But I want to focus a moment on the foundational truth that the Bible delivers. Draw a big circle on a piece of paper. Let that circle represent everything there is to know about everything – all the truth in the universe. And now draw a circle inside that circle that represents how much truth you know. I’m told – I don’t know if it’s true – that somebody did this little exercise with Albert Einstein, and it became a pivotal moment in his life.
The point is this: We could live a hundred lifetimes and never know enough to know that we speak with certainty about the things that really matter. The only way to get truth we can count on, is for Someone who knows everything to speak to us about the things that matter most. This is why every time we pick up the Bible, we are witnessing a tremendous act of mercy from God to us. God knows that we cannot discover foundational truth on our own any more than a six-month old baby could serve as President of the United States. We aren’t capable; but God is.
This is how the Christian life works. We don’t have to go out and find truth about the things that determine our eternal destiny. God delivered that truth to us. Now we have something from God to validate and evaluate every bit of information and experience that comes our way.
I mention this because I hear people talk hopefully about their search for truth. Here’s the good news: Truth has already been found.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
Dwight Clough is the author of four Christian books and is an active member of Lake City Church in Madison. This devotional is also available via email and you may review the archives back to 2002. Dwight and his wife Kim provide prayer ministry for inner healing / transformation and coaching in prayer ministry. He is available to speak to your group or church. To contact Dwight or Kim, use their contact form. You may also support their ministry.