WATCHWORD:
1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:1-5
Meditation:
We know that passage from John 14, and the quote from Jesus: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”. We have discussed and studied that passage in many different forums and tried to slant it one way or another, applying secular morality or inclusionism (is that even a word?) to what Jesus said. But, Jesus did not say he would show the truth or teach the truth or model the truth. He said I am the truth. He is the source of truth. You and I can discover truth, but we cannot create truth.
Puddin’ Head Wilson tells us that “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. Truth is a good example.
What is truth? Truth, real truth, is a hard taskmaster. You know with truth, there is no wiggle room, no way to hedge the bet. No way to hide or duck it. As Steve Brown has said, “Truth is true because it’s…well… true.”
If you speak the truth, the real truth, I wonder how people would react? One skeptic has said it’s a sure way to lose friends and irritate people.
In truth, there is no “flexibility”. It is, or it isn’t.
More from Puddin’ Head Wilson: When in doubt, tell the truth. Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid. Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.
In this political world of ours, what is the truth? Is truth whatever you hear from whatever news source you choose to trust? Is it true truth? How would you know? Should you trust it?
This is a source of fear for many of us, fear for our families, especially the next generations, and what they might face in the years ahead. What do we lean on? What do we rely on? Then, we hear the Master tell us that He is the truth, and we are reassured.
And Jesus said, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Phil 4:6. Why do we still worry, why are we anxious? Do we not trust what Jesus says enough to act on it? There is your answer. He is Truth, and we are called to trust it!
Then, later in that same passage, we read: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Phil 4:13. Do you believe that? Do you live your life trusting that? Do you act on that whenever you have reached the end of your rope? Is Jesus speaking the truth? Wait, he doesn’t speak the truth, He IS truth! Got it?
Read that passage again — “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me – That is where it all begins, folks, trusting in Jesus. Amen.
Good Morning, Lord:
We greet the Lord as we rise so that we may offer our first thought, our fresh words to the One who can carry us through our busy day. Before our feet hit the floor or our minds are filled with the busy events of the day, we take a moment to talk to our gracious God.
Good morning, Lord!
I offer to you my day,
All of my joys and my sufferings, my cares and my concerns,
My accomplishments and my failures.
All that I have, all that I do, is yours.
Keep me in your care. Guard me in my actions.
Teach me to love, and help me to turn to you throughout the day.
The world is filled with temptations. As I move through my day,
keep me close.
May those I encounter feel your loving presence.
Lord, be the work of my hands and my heart.
Amen.
