The Gift of Truth

Written by Myles MacMillan.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.(NIV) Genesis 3:6

If I were to ask the simple question: “What is truth?” how would you answer it? Many in the world today would argue that truth is subjective, different to everyone depending on their circumstances and changing over time as situations and needs vary. The bible paints a much different picture of truth. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The bible also says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) and “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17). We see from these verses that God’s will for us is firm, unchanging and eternal.

Without God’s word, real truth gets thrown out the window. Those who do not believe the word rely on different things to establish “truth”. Some of these things are good like wisdom, reason and logic but others, like emotion, status quo and political correctness skew sound thinking and change what “truth” is to certain people.

Adam and Eve knew the truth from God regarding the fruit which was: “you must not touch it, or you will die.” (Genesis 3:3) but after being tempted, Eve reasoned that it was good fruit, looked tasty and would help her gain wisdom so she ignored God and falling to the temptation, ate. I chose the reading from Genesis 3 to show Eve’s thought process for eating the forbidden fruit. Even though she may have had good intentions and it made sense in her mind at the time, it didn’t change the fact that she was directly disobeying God’s simple command. Does this thought process sound familiar to some of the thinking in the world today? How often do we see sin being “justified” by worldly “wisdom” when the Word of God is abundantly clear that God is opposed to it? Have we done this as well?

As Christians I believe that one of God’s most amazing gifts is something we take for granted. This gift is the gift of truth – real, firm, unchanging truth that will last for all eternity. What a gift it is for us to know that the Bible is God’s Truth and that He will not change it because people are offended by it or someone thinks it’s not a good idea for them. There is a great security for the soul in knowing that God’s plan of salvation has been firmly established and will not change.

Knowing that real, biblical truth is unchanging should spur us on to read God’s Word even more so that we can build our lives on the unchanging truth in a world of shifting sand. This gift should cause us to be filled with gratitude to our God and a desire to reach out to others who desperately need to hear the real truth.

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