Truth Isn’t Merely an Idea — Truth Has a Name: Jesus Christ
Updated: 5 days ago
Why do we lie?
Why do we cover ourselves?
As I have continued seeking the Lord in His Word, some questions that may have seemed separate are beginning to connect.
Why is there evil?
Why is there suffering and death?
Why is there cruelty and deception?
Why do people hurt one another?
Why do we lie?
Why do we hide, cover ourselves, blame, defend ourselves and justify ourselves when the truth is actually the thing that can set us free?
I don't want to answer those questions from my own reasoning.
I want to take them to Christ and His Word.
Something Happened to Mankind
The Biblical response to the question of WHY isn't simply, people are basically good and bad things happen.
Scripture takes us much deeper.
Something happened to mankind through sin.
The human heart apart from God cannot be trusted as its own source of truth.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”— Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
And Scripture doesn't allow me to stand over here looking at the evil in everybody else.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”— Romans 3:23 KJV
That includes me.
And yet—
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son...”— John 3:16 KJV
That changes everything.
What Is the Difference?
Even those who belong to Christ still live in mortal bodies in a fallen creation.
The difference isn't that Christians escape physical suffering or death.
The difference is life in Christ — eternal life.
And Jesus told us what eternal life is:
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”— John 17:3 KJV
And there is a deeper devotion underneath all of this:
TRUTH.
Why do we lie?
Why does the flesh instinctively try to protect itself, defend itself, cover itself and justify itself — when truth is actually the thing that can set us free?
That question reaches all the way back to Genesis.
Adam sinned.
He became afraid.
He hid.
He covered himself.
And when God questioned him, he began explaining and blaming.
Genesis 3:7–13.
And yet Jesus comes saying:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life...”— John 14:6 KJV
And:
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”— John 8:32 KJV
Jesus Christ is the Truth.
Lord, Is It I?
This belongs right in the middle of everything we are studying.
Because this devotion doesn't need to become:
Why do those horrible people lie?
It becomes:
Why do we lie?
Why does my own flesh want to cover itself?
What am I afraid will happen if the truth is known?
Lord, is it I?
“And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?”— Matthew 26:22 KJV
That keeps Matthew 7:3–5 right beside Matthew 26:22.
Before "I" start diagnosing everybody else's blindness, Jesus teaches me to deal with the beam in my own eye.
The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
There is something else I believe we need to be careful about as we study this.
Scripture certainly teaches that Satan deceives, blinds unbelieving minds, lays snares, and has “devices.”
2 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:26
But Scripture also places responsibility upon our own desires:
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”— James 1:14 KJV
We don't want to accidentally give Satan credit for everything the Bible says can arise from our own hearts and flesh.
We're beginning to see something:
The world.
The flesh.
The devil.
And all of it leaves us desperately in need of Christ.
And What About Everybody Else?
There's another place where “Lord, is it I?” matters.
We can discuss what someone professes.
We can observe fruit.
We can compare teaching with Scripture.
But ultimately:
“The Lord knoweth them that are his.”— 2 Timothy 2:19 KJV
We don't have God's seat from which to pronounce the eternal condition of another person's soul.
And that brings me right back again:
Lord, is it I?
So as we see and hear all the noise around us, let's try to hear what someone's heart and argument actually are.
And then let's bring what we hear back to Scripture.
Come Sit With Me Awhile…
As we pray and prepare to learn Christ with an open heart and an open Bible, these are some of the questions I want to keep before us:
Who is telling us the truth?
What happens when man trusts himself instead of God?
Why do we hide from truth?
Why do we lie?
And what happens when we finally come into the Light and discover—
Truth isn't merely an idea.
Truth has a name: Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ Is the Truth | Hope in Today
There are several Scriptures I want us to keep beside us as this unfolds:
Genesis 2:17;
Genesis 3:7–19;
Jeremiah 17:9;
Romans 3:10–12, 23;
John 3:16–21;
John 8:31–36, 44;
John 14:6;
John 17:3;
Romans 12:2;
Galatians 5:16–17;
2 Corinthians 2:11;
2 Corinthians 4:3–6;
2 Corinthians 10:5;
2 Timothy 2:25–26;
Ephesians 6:11;
James 1:14–15;
Mark 10:18.
We're not going to try to answer all of those Scriptures in this one blog.
We're going to walk through them.
One lesson at a time.
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