Wednesday, February 12, 2020
What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars, signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing. There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:12-19[1]
A family, any kind of family, people
gathered for any purpose of home, business, government, or some kind of
endeavor have both the possibility of experiencing success or crumbling defeat. It all depends on trust and truth.
Jesus made sure we understood how
you cannot overestimate the value of truth.
He said it so plainly in teaching his disciples, identifying everything
he did, said, and meant as steeped-in, and sourced-by truth. He claimed to be the very embodiment of truth
when he told his questioning disciple, Thomas:
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Truth is so intricately woven into
the fabric of God’s creation that humans can never achieve God’s
purposes for our lives if there is a crack in the truth
foundation.
And therein is the answer to why
things fall apart. God’s purposes are clear,
right, and unfailing…and they are inexorably tied to truth.
The example of Adam and Eve’s fall
hinges on the truth. In Eden we observe
the chief enemy, Satan, tempting Eve, planting a seed of doubt over what God
had commanded; 18 seed-words of doubt which began generations of misery:
Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? Genesis 3:1
It was a question, but not an
innocent one; Satan was setting Eve up. This
was a plot, an evil ploy to get Eve to intentionally transgress against God’s
instructions. The enemy’s evil lying
tongue deceived the innocent woman, sowing a seed of doubt against God’
sovereignty. When Adam and Eve allowed
that seed to take root, truth was violated, and the fruit was full-blown discord
between God and all humanity.
For
You Today
But we can
affect the present and future. We can
make a commitment to truth; we can affirm God’s sovereignty over us, trusting
that Christ’s forgiveness extended from the cross is true. The original foundation may have crumbled,
but a new building is possible. He said
it was so!
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17
