HOW DOES TRUTH AFFECT YOU?
Truth is something that affects everyone. The way it affects each one is up to the individual. Truth has been around as long as time itself. Truth is that which God spoke to Adam in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:16-17. This is when the commandment was given regarding what was allowed in the Garden and what was not. What God said also provided the penalty for breaking His commandment. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
What was the truth here? Actually, there were a number of truths spoken by God in these verses. 1) It is truth that God told the man that He had provided the man with all he was permitted to eat. 2) It is also truth that God told the man what man was not allowed to eat within the Garden. 3) And, it is truth that God warned Adam of exactly what would happen if he broke the Commandment of God. The outcome of the situation was completely dependent on the man and his choice to obey or disobey the Commandment of God.
In John 8:32 we read some Words of Jesus regarding truth. He said: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Unfortunately, many fail to read the verse before it to see that Jesus was speaking to the Jews that believed on Him, then He told them where they could find the truth. John 8:31
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; Truth is not going to change just because some fail to obey it. Those who reject the Word of God are rejecting the truth in this life and will have to deal with that truth at the judgment. We are told this in John 12:48 by the Lord Himself while He was on the earth. He said: He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
But, many are confused as to what truth is and what is not truth. Even Pilate, while interrogating Jesus in John 18:38 asked such a question, and then immediately told the Jews that he found no fault at all in Jesus. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. How could Pilate possibly find any fault in Christ? There is none to find because Jesus is “the truth”. In John chapter 14 when Jesus told His apostles He was leaving to prepare a place for the obedient and faithful, He said they knew where He was going and how to go there. This is when Thomas said: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus response, which we find in John 14:6 tells us what Jesus said to Thomas. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Then in Jesus’ prayer for His disciples (apostles) in John 17:17 we see how all the disciples of the Lord are to be sanctified (set apart). Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
But, truth will not set one apart unless the person embraces the truth and applies it to their lives. The only way a person can be “sanctified” or set apart, as we see in 1Peter 1:22 is to obey the truth. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: And, according to 1Corinthians 12-13 the saved have received the truth which has been given us of the Father through the Spirit. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Way back in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 29:29 we see that what God wanted His people to have was given to them and was theirs forever, and why it was provided for them, but that the secret things belong to God. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Then, in the New Testament we are also told in 2Peter 1:3 that all things that pertain to life and godliness has been provided for us by the divine power of the Lord. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: We are to do these things.
Based on the fact that truth is God’s Word and God’s Word is truth, perhaps we should ask a different question than the one which is the title of this article. We should ask: HOW DOES GOD’S WORD AFFECT YOU?
Dennis Strickland - Mooresville
