Truth

Part 2 in a 3 part series on John 14:6

In his book which provides a statistical analysis of religious beliefs in America, George Barna cites several fascinating statistics which are based on a national survey.

In chapter four he states, "The Devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." Then asking that segment of his survey respondents who have identified themselves at being Born Again, he states, "Do you agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly with that statement?"

The Born Again population reply with 32 percent agreeing strongly, 11 percent agreeing somewhat and 5 percent did not know. Thus, of the total number responding, 48 percent either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or did not know!

His next question, "Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others all pray to the same God, even though they use different names for that God." Again, the respondents were asked to agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat or disagree strongly.

Of that population surveyed who identified themselves as Born Again, 30 percent agreed strongly, 18 percent agreed somewhat and 12 percent did not know. That is a total of 60 percent!

It’s amazing how many people profess to be born again believers and yet they do not know the truth about who Jesus really is and what a relationship with him can actually do in their lives.

Jesus said knowing truth would set us free, but free from what? Free from our sin. Knowing that Jesus is the source of truth and that a relationship with him will open our eyes to the condition of sin in our lives is a scary and sobering to understand. But that is what knowing truth is about.

The truth is that sin does capture and enslave us. That is why we call coming to know Jesus as Lord being saved. The truth is that you and I are powerless over our sin and our only hope to over come it and have redemption is to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

So how do we know this truth? It’s actually pretty simple. We know the truth by knowing and living the word of God. Jesus is the truth and knowing truth means to know Him. In order to know him we must …

• Be honest about who we are. Sometimes we are not the person we say we are and we can even fool ourselves by pretending to be someone we are not. To know truth means to be honest about whom we really are in light of who God desires us to be.

• Be honest about who God is. Is He really Lord of your life or are you playing the God game? Do you serve Him wholeheartedly or do you make a public appearance in His house once a week?

• Be honest about our sin. We can’t hide our sin from God. We can hide it from other people and protect our little secrets but God knows and sees all. We have to be honest about our sin and let God have control.
• Be honest about our desires. Do we really want to serve Him as our Lord? Sometimes we mix the desire for a feel good spiritual moment and the desire to know the Lord. What is your true desire when it comes to God?

• Be honest about your relationship with God. Do you have a growing relationship with Him? Are you really as spiritually solid as you appear to be?

Sometimes the truth can hurt because it means seeing who we really are. We often come up way short when we see ourselves in the light of God’s truth. So the question is; what do we do then? Do we desire to change our lifestyles and habits to become the person that God desires us to be? Or do we continue to feed our selfishness?