Friday, October 22, 2010

Which Side of the Fence Are You On?

Ephesians 4:4-6 - There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

I noticed in Ephesians 4 the use of the words unity and one. They were underlined. I'm going to emphasize "one." My mind is reeling...again. This is hard to write. 

We've been given an "assignment" for our Sunday school class: to define truth. Part of this assignment was NOT to go to a dictionary. Well, I did anyway. I'm a bit rebellious! I did not use the definitions for my assignment, however. I checked three online dictionaries where truth is defined as:

Dictonary.com - conformity with fact or reality; honesty, truthfulness, integrity; agreement with a standard or original. 
Webster - sincerity in action, character, and utterance; the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality; fidelity to an original or to a standard
Free Dictionary.com - Conformity to fact or actuality; a statement proven to be or accepted as true; sincerity; integrity; fidelity to an original or standard

Well, they all seem to be in agreement. Maybe one dictionary used the meaning from another!? The Free Dictionary, however, had this further statement: That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence. Supreme reality? Ultimate meaning and value? What struck me in each of the meanings was the agreement with a standard or original. Original? Original what or what's original? To me original, thinking as I do, is God. He is the Supreme, Ultimate Originator. What He says is Truth. His Word is Truth. His Word is also known as Jesus. So....you know where I'm going, I'll betcha. Just hang in here.

Truth can either be a very simple or very complex idea. It depends on which side of the fence you are on. Just look at mainstream media.... Who's telling the truth? Depends on which side of the fence you are on!

As a Christian, truth should be the simple concept. Truth is Jesus Christ. Period and amen! [A side note: I just HAD to look up the meaning of the word "amen." The Hebrew meaning from the Old Testament is verily, truly, amen, so be it. The Greek definition from the New Testament is the same. And what really caused my heart to race was that I noticed it comes from the root word for truth which I studied yesterday for our Sunday school assignment! Are you getting this?] 

God does not complicate things. He is not the author of confusion. Listen to this: 1Corinthians 1:27 - God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. 1Corinthians 14:33 - For God is not the author of confusion. He makes it easy enough for anyone to understand. The Word of God (which/Who is also known as Jesus) says that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one gets to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). A hard statement? Depends on which side of the fence you're on! 

The scriptures above correlate to the Truth. There can only be one truth. The Truth of Jesus Christ. When we know this Truth, when we know Jesus, a oneness comes about. There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father (of all). There is a common ground. One day we will all come into agreement with this one Truth: a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus is Lord (Isaiah 45:23-24 and Philippians 2:9-11). Part of Isaiah's word about this tells those who are incensed with having to do this will be put to shame. This is not me saying this. This is the Truth of Jesus Christ.
Where there is oneness and unity, there is peace. Could that be just a part of the reason why this world constantly is in conflict over everything? We are all born filled with sin...without God, apart from Him...and we struggle with pride and the longing for control/power, even over our misguided thoughts. Could there be conflict because of the idea (the lie) that there are many roads to heaven and that many gods can get us there? There is only one God, the Father. Ahhhh, so there's the catch. Having to believe that there IS only one God, having to believe that God is the only one who knows what's best for us, that we are not able, on our own, to do that. That's hard for some to do....depends on which side of the fence we're on. That's why it's a narrow road. That's why there are disagreements and conflicts. Oh, we are a stubborn lot, us humans, wanting to believe what we want to believe (and sitting on our side of the fence) and forsaking the truth for a lie (Romans 1:25). 

This world was created by one God, that Supreme Reality, that Ultimate Meaning. This is the God of Truth. This Truth came to earth to share Himself with all mankind that we might know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:32), to free us from our enemy who only wants to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He does not look out for our best interests...this also is the truth.

True believers know the truth and because God is not prevalent in all lives, the truth becomes a lie to them. How Satan likes to penetrate lives and minds. A hard word? It's the truth! God is on one side of the fence, the devil on the other! 

There is only one Hope. That Hope is in Jesus Christ. He's that narrow road we must take. We become peculiar people (1Peter 2:9) when we look to Jesus and stand firm in our beliefs of Who He is (not was). That's the one faith we also have. One belief, oneness in Christ, one God, one Creator. 

The truth, by some, wants to be covered up (mainstream media). Just like there are some who want God out of the picture of the United States. Folks, we're in for some serious trouble if more people don't start to realize what truth is, Who Truth is. Decide which side of the fence you want to be on. Remember, the truth will set you free. 

All I can say is I find comfort in the part of the scripture above that tells us that there is one Father, one God, who is above all. Like we sometimes want to do...defend ourselves...defend our beliefs...defend our actions (whether we've done good or bad), Christians want to defend themselves and their beliefs. We'd like others to see the truth/Truth. We will be mocked...but not God (Galatians 6:7)...and some day whether it be next week or hundreds of years from now, God will prove Himself to those who have believed the lie, who opted for the other side of the fence.

Oh, this is a very hard word. But I am confident that as long as I stand by what God says, I am in a safe place on my side of the fence. I have that hope, that faith, that belief in one God, that Truth. So be it...or Amen.

...yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints... (1Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 1:18)

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