Delighting In God's Truth

"Today's Devotion" For February 23, 2006

Read: I John 1:5-10; Psalm 26

DELIGHTING IN GOD'S TRUTH

"The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in men who are truthful." (Proverbs 12:22)

Have you ever noticed how "truth" is a relative concept in our world? In recent months, during a push to get the governor of our state to negotiate a cap increase in the school voucher program, proponents and opponents ran a series of commercials intended to sway public opinion on the issue. Both sides had their own perspective on the situation with both sides shading the truth and being quite disingenuous in their pronouncements. Because we cherish our freedom of speech, however, no one gets "prosecuted" for such activity.

We value free speech so much that we allow a former Vice President of the United States to lambaste our nation's purported mistreatment of suspected terrorists incarcerated in our country in a speech given in a country that has fostered terrorism by its repression of its people and its radical religious schools. Some would charge him with treason. Others support his right to free speech even though they vigorously disagree with him. Many believe that what he said was filled with half-truths, innuendos, and lies, but we don't prosecute people for lying except under when they do so under oath or to impede a criminal investigation.

While the former Vice President is spreading his version of "truth" another man was put on trial in Switzerland for questioning various facts about "The Holocaust." Freedom of speech and expression is allowed in many "democracies" but is monitored to ensure it remains "politically correct." Russia and Latvia have also prosecuted people who have questioned historical facts about "The Holocaust" - all have been jailed. As far as the historicity of "The Holocaust" is concerned, for most of Europe any challenge to the facts related to it is a crime.

Incredibly, with all the effort to "speak the truth," support the "truth," and yet punish those whose understanding of "truth" is different from the "norm" none of this effort ever seems to matter when it comes to God's truth. No one wants to hear God's truth. Sin works incessantly to direct us to other "truths" besides God's truth as revealed in Jesus Christ. The truth of the Gospel, that humanity can only be saved from Sin and unbelief through Jesus Christ, is derided as too harsh, too stringent, and grossly elitist. Human beings seek to be lied to about salvation, hoping that they can work their way into heaven rather than repenting of their sins and being forgiven in Christ. Humanity has "exchanged the truth of God for a lie" (Rom. 1:22) and refuses to hold itself accountable for denying the truth.

Yet, no matter the world's position on truth, as God's people we know for certain that God doesn't lie and that He honors those who speak the truth in love. In the Gospel we are called to know the truth which sets us free from the ravages of Sin, Death, and Satan. Christ Jesus has redeemed us from the lie that we can be like God - the lie with which the serpent tempted Adam and Eve (cf. Gen. 3) - so that we might know the truth of God's forgiveness, hope, and peace in Jesus. As His dearly beloved children, forgiven and restored to Him in Jesus, we truly delight in God's truth as we share His love for the world in Jesus with others. As we live each day in His love and forgiveness, we endeavor at all times to speak the truth, living as people free from the slavery of Sin and thus anything that would bind our tongues from telling the truth about God's hatred for Sin and His love for the sinner. By God's grace and blessing we are empowered to speak His truth no matter what, with confident and peace, knowing that He holds us in the very palm of His hand and nothing shall snatch us away from Him.

Prayer: Father, the world isn't a very truthful place. What we human beings claim to be the "truth" often turns out to have no basis in fact. We hold people to incredibly high standards of "truth-telling" when it comes to how we perceive the world but ignore what's true in our relationship with You, discounting the Cross and its reality for our salvation. Father, I, too, am often guilty of exchanging Your truth for the lie that makes me feel good or makes me "important" to others. Too often I live a lie because I fail to serve You and others in Your name, even though I claim to be Your child. Forgive me, Father, for so often living a lie rather than living in and sharing Your truth with others. Help me to delight in Your truth and, with joy, take advantage of every opportunity to share Your truth in Jesus with others, no matter the consequences to me. In Jesus' precious name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2006 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.