Accept The Truth, Speak The Truth, & Know The Truth

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<Solomon writes,> (1) My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, (2) turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— (3) indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, (4) and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, (5) then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. (6) For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. (7) He holds success in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, (8) for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones. (9) Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. (10) For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. (11) Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. (12) Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse…’ (Proverbs 2:1-12)

Now that Christmas Day has past, there’s not much going on (at least in our household) worth noting.  Now I could say ‘it’s great!’ and ‘we’re wonderful!’ but really it’s just a normal day.  Not much in the news, with normal stuff at home on the ‘to-do’ list.  Truthfully we are blessed – very blessed – to have such normal stuff in our lives.  As far as today goes, not great but not terrible – it’s a middle of the road day, with the blessings of the Lord in terms of health, security, and peace of mind.

For others, things aren’t OK; perhaps health or family relationships causing stress are making today not so good. In some cases, we are honest when asked, ‘How are you doing?’ – ‘Not well, not well at all‘. We should always be honest in our answer, but typically the answer we almost all give to each other is, ‘I’m fine!‘, often with a smile on our face. After all, usually health issues clear up, the family begrudgingly gets back together, and things typically go back to normal. Typically.

There are times, however, when we tell each other ‘we’re doing fine’ when pandemonium is exploding all around us, and things don’t go back to ‘normal’.  Even the media, which has been feeding Americans for years outright lies, exaggerations, and general misinformation and disinformation, gives us ‘all is well‘ when our economy is collapsing, crime is soaring, and society is drifting exponentially away from God and His precepts. 

Most media outlets continue to declare things are ‘temporarily setback’, and will be ‘getting better’, as long as their scapegoats (usually Christians, ‘deplorable Neanderthals’, etc.) make strides to come over to see and do things their way.  This scapegoating causes many of us Christians, feeling the pressure of society, to say, ‘we will follow our Lord, but…’. The ‘but’ statement is a position held by the ‘media majority’; pro-abortion, pro-critical race theory, pro-illegal immigration, and other stances not based on Scriptural doctrine.   Can we as Christians be so accommodating? 

The answer is in the ‘if/then’ statements Joshua provided in his ‘retirement’ speech in Joshua 24; to summarize, ‘if you obey God, then you’ll be blessed and He will be with you, and if you turn away from God, then He will turn away from you, and you’ll be cursed’.  In Proverbs 2, Solomon provides his own ‘if/then’ statement; ‘if you accept the Word of the Lord, study it, and apply it to your everyday life; then you’ll be upright in obeying God and you’ll gain wisdom, knowledge and strength and have God at your side when faced with everyday dilemmas.’  

What do we gain from the study and reading of Scriptures?  We gain not only the history of the Hebrews, but more importantly we gain insight how the Lord thinks and acts toward certain actions.  To know His Truth, and what is acceptable to Him – behavior, beliefs, and the appropriate responses to secularist ideas, is through reading Scripture.   To learn that tolerance is not a Christian virtue; we cannot tolerate sin – we can love the sinner, and welcome him/her to attempt to provide them the Gospel for their reconciliation with Christ, but we cannot accommodate or tolerate their sinful nature, both in the micro (individually) and macro (society at large).  We need not be ‘ugly’ or ‘mean’ in our repudiation of sin, only that we make it known that we do not accept it as being normal or ‘okay’ and act accordingly.

We all run into people who attempt to finagle us into a situation for their own advantage.  There are rigid lines in today’s society being drawn between the Secular Worldview and the Godly Worldview.  But how do you know or understand this?  Can you gain further clarity?  Can you be given a clear path on how to respond?  The answer has been provided by Solomon; accept God’s Word as Truth.  Gain the Wisdom it has by reading it, studying it, and pray for the Lord to provide you with understanding and definition.  When you know His Word it will provide you the ability to discern and determine that which is Godly and that which is not, and God Himself will guide you and protect you through those times when the ungodly attempt to trick you.

More than ever, we – you, me, all of us – individually and collectively need to ‘fine tune’ into what the Lord is telling us, and to stay in step with the Holy Spirit.  Remember that just because the majority says, ‘this is good’ does not make it so – and doesn’t make them the true majority.  The true majority is God + you or me, even if it’s you or me alone and no one else.  When the world is filled with lies, make sure you are in tune with the Truth that only God can provide.