December 3, 2014
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Bible Reference
3 John 4: I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth.
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DA Truth
Not long ago I was reading through 2nd and 3rd John and I couldn’t help but notice how many times he used the word “truth”. John uses the word several times throughout these short books and sometimes multiple times in one sentence. In both of these books John uses the phrase “walking in the truth.” It seems that truth and walking in the truth was a pretty big deal to John so it’s probably worth talking about. My BIG question is, what is walking in the truth, and how do we do it?
Recently, I was reading an article about a poll that was given to self-identified Christians. The poll had fairly basic questions about who God is, Jesus, sin, and scripture. The results were a little scary! They showed that many Christians have misconceptions and sometimes are downright wrong on these topics. This really smart guy named R.C Sproul said about the poll “There are two primary problems: we don’t understand who God is, and we don’t understand who we are.”
In Johns day there was a pretty big problem in many churches. Randos off the street were coming in spouting off wrong things about Jesus, and the problem was that people believed them! This was why it was so important for the people in these churches to know the TRUTH and walk in it. Now, if you go to church I’m hoping that your pastor isn’t telling you lies about Jesus, but this still applies to us today. In our culture we are constantly bombarded with the “truths” of this world. Whether it’s TV, education, pop-culture, or shred-culture, we are constantly being told who we are and who God is. Often times we are told something different by each source. I don’t how many opinion pieces I’ve found talking about “who Jesus really was” in the religion section of popular news websites.
So this takes us back to the BIG question. What is walking in the truth and how do we do it? If we are being bombarded with the truth of this world how do we know what real truth is? Well the answer is actually pretty simple. In John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.” In John 8: 31, Jesus says “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Want to know truth? Look at Jesus! Want to walk in the truth? Abide in His words.
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Application
What people or things influence us in what we believe and who we are?
What does walking in the truth practically look like for us?
In the book of Romans, Paul says in chapter 12, “Do not be transformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” In other words, don’t be transformed to the truth’s (Lies) of this world, but transform and renew your mind to Gods truths. I would argue that the starting point and primary way to do this is through reading God’s word (the Bible). You see God’s already spoken to us about who He is, what He is like, what He has done for us, and about how He wants us to live. Through the Bible God speaks to us, and the Holy Spirit will use that to transform our minds, our hearts, and our lives. How is your Bible reading going? Are you letting it transform your heart, mind, and life? Over this next week try to spend some time every day with God by reading the bible and praying, and see what happens.