Truth

It's 5:50am and I woke up with all these thoughts in my head that I had to get down before they got lost in the mishmash of the day. I am living in a culture now that is, as my dad puts it, as being out of the frying pan and into the fire. What I mean by that is, I am living in a very in-your-face relativist society. Not to say that I didn't encounter these attitudes in MN, or even in myself every day, but here it seems to just be very much at the fore. Ironically, though, instead of making me question my faith and what I believe, it has served to refine and strengthen it, and really hit home to me the importance of daily time in prayer and in the Word, and just being in God's presence. That is my center, that is my strength. On my own, I get caught up in the mentality and practices of the culture around me, but God is always there, calling to me to come back, and when I do, how sweet it is! His Word is truth, the ultimate Truth. People ask me, 'how do you know this? Isn't it just that you believe that it is truth? And if that works for you, great, but I don't want any part of that. Organized religion has hurt me, they are just a bunch of hypocrites, it's all a sham. I don't hurt anyone, I'm a good person.' Yes, all that has elements of truth to it. Organized religion doesn't save anyone from sin, from themselves, this is true. Jesus does. There are hypocrites in the church. One of them is writing this blog right now. But it's not my hypocrisy and failings that invalidate God's truth; nor would it be living a perfect life (if that were even possible!) that would verify it. Jesus is perfect, and He is what it is all about. The church is full of failures and sinful people. Yup. No argument there. But the church isn't about us. The church is about Jesus. We fail; He redeems our failures and puts them to good use. I don't know how He does this, but He does. The 'I'm a good person' one is a common theme too. I know because this is what I say to myself just after I have done something I know I shouldn't have and feel guilt about it. Like I am trying to justify myself. But to whom? God's laws have been written on our hearts; whether one knows Him or not, they are there. When we say, "I am a good person, I don't hurt anyone", that's not true. We do hurt others. Our selfishness and self-absorption hurts others. Our pride. Our vanity. Our self-seeking. And even if none of these things hurts others, it would hurt ourselves. Since we were all created in God's image, me hurting anyone, myself included, is a big deal. Okay, so the point of all of this. All of these things were floating around in my head, mixed up with left-over dream segments and things I need to know for my Physical Assessment test, but what I heard as the loudest voice was that the Word is truth. Everyone is looking for truth to build their lives on. Some build it on the 'truth' that if I have enough money, enough status, look good enough, I'll be happy and secure. If I don't rock the boat, leave others alone to do their thing, live and let live, I'll be happy and secure. Funnily, these things don't work. It seems like they do, for a time, but they don't. Money can go. Status can go. Looks can go. You can't please everyone. The only truth that stands is the unshakable Truth, the Word. Piper once said (really bad paraphrase following): "Truth without love is too harsh. Love without truth is too wishywashy and milquetoast. You need truth spoken with love."
Or, as Mary Poppins says, "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down". Love is the soft pillow you put your head down on at night, and truth is the blanket that covers you. Put together, you get a good night's sleep! Okay, so apparently I am still thinking about sleeping. I think I said all I had in my head, and it is time to go get a bagel and start the day.