(Note about The Pastor’s Points – the Bible must be taken on faith…reasoned faith to be sure….but, in the end, faith is a leap of the heart which is attached to an informed mind. Faith is not scientific fact or mathematical equation. These devotional writings are faith-based, and therefore rooted in Scripture. They are meant to encourage your faith, grow your faith, and challenge you to live by that faith.
But one thing is not intended – to give you faith on a silver platter, as if somehow you could read what is written each morning –take it like a “faith-pill”, and grow a belief system. That is patently impossible – and that’s way beyond my pay grade as a writer anyway. (For the source of faith read Romans 10:17)
Faith is personal, and it is also a gift from God. Every human being possesses – at the very least – sufficient faith to recognize the truth of God as our Creator, who is due our worship. We have His image stamped on our souls!
That image has been corrupted by sin, but it nonetheless calls to us from within, that we seek to find the God whom we have distorted and seems out of reach.
With that in mind, let me suggest that you read these devotional thoughts like you take a vitamin supplement – to assist what your body is already doing. If, in your heart you have chosen to take the “faith-leap” and accept Christ’s Word as truth, that is your main diet and hope. This devotional is simply another fellow-disciple’s look at how the diet of God’s Word works for him. Take the supplement or not – but never lay aside the main meal!)
The “Heart” of God’s Word Psalms 119:160
If “the heart” of a person is
centered in something (a boyfriend, drive to become rich, being valedictorian
of the class, building the perfect ice cream sundae) it is certain everything
else – thoughts, words and actions will follow the heart’s desire.
So it is with God’s Word; its heart is truth.
Everything about the heart of the Word
of God begins in truth…absolute truth. The Psalmist called the Word of God
“eternal”. That means “no beginning, no
ending”.
So truth is true – whenever, and
under whatever conditions exist. It is
never relative to circumstances or the thoughts of man. One scholar’s exposition of the Psalm text
is: And all these, thy words endure for ever.
They are true, and ever will be true.[i]
True is always just true. (If you accept the premise of “God” in the
first place, then His word is absolutely true, or He is not God.)
But “truth” in our culture is
always relative – never absolute. That’s
so strange in a country with a foundational document which declares, We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal. “All” sounds pretty
“absolute” to me.
Now, that presents a problem for
the Christian who is trying his best to live in the world, but
not be of the world.(James 4:4)
Our culture’s reasoning and truth-seeking have degenerated over
the years; now we have what John Calvin called the appeal to custom against
truth[ii]. We went from God’s immutable, undisputable
truth to…. “Well, that may be true for you, and I’m glad for you, but it’s not my
truth”. Some truth is not so
“self-evident” today – the distortion of God’s image grows; eternal truth has been
ripped from God’s hands, and now belongs to the created beings!
Ready to Swim Upstream Today?
Take your stand with truth today.
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