I am the truth

TeacherStudent

NEW LIFE UNDER GOD’S LIGHT

 

 

22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)

********************************************************

The old self is the familiar self. It is hard to leave the comfort of familiarity and start anew. Like the plant trying to break through the hardened ground to reach the light and grow, we struggle. The darkness underground in the shadows envelops us, seemingly hiding what we don’t want the Light to see associated with our old self.

We know His Light will change us. It will reveal what we cannot hide. We are unable to remain the same under the influence of Light. The plant knows this about light. Photosynthesis is innate to its existence and    sustenance. God imbued the plant with this “understanding.” It is changed by light, as we are when we yield to its life-giving effects.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the  resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.   (I Peter 1:3-5)

The old self, that we have come to know so well, cannot grow and change. It is an Old Life Dying every moment. The old must die to  release the reborn me and you in a New Engaging Walk with the Light.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Death, in our culture, is usually associated with feelings of fear, anxiety, dread, and avoidance. Yet, through the Light of Christ, death to our old self is the means through which we can each grow to prepare for our new life eternal. From death is the hope to rise anew, to break through the hard ground out of the darkness, to reach upward and bend, like the plant, toward the saving Light.

 When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

Let us each follow His Light.

He is the path to salvation,

Our Guide home through the darkness.

(Sharon G. Tate blog 04/22/18)  teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

JESUS CHRIST: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

I-am-the-Way-

 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (John 18:38)
***************************************

“TRUTH”–as defined by the dictionary, a book accepted by “most people.”
1)“Truth: a fact or principle that is thought to be true by most people.” (dictionarycambridge.org)
One must ask, “Who or what defines the ‘most people’ who think this is truth?”
2) “Truth: the real facts about a situation, event, or person.” (dictionarycambridge.org)
One must ask, “What is real? Is it only ‘real’ if ‘most people’ think so?”
***************************************************************************
“TRUTH” –as defined by two writers not in the “most people” norm.
1) “Truth– is as old as God” –Emily Dickinson¹
One must ask, “How can we explain the meaning of ‘truth’ using today’s terms when its origin is from God who is not defined by age as we know it?”
2)“Truth is impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam” —John Milton ²
One must ask: “Does truth, then, reside within?”
****************************************************************************
Pilate said to Him, “So you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:38)

Pilate did not recognize the embodiment of the Truth standing before him. He later washed his hands of Jesus and allowed the mob’s cries to “crucify him” happen. Pilate did not hear the voice of Jesus and did not accept the living Truth of Christ: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) Only Christ can define truth. Only Christ can be the truth we follow and believe. “Most people” cannot hear His voice as they are only hearing their own “truth” or one proclaimed by “most people.”

(24) So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (25) Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; (26) but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. (27) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; (28) and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (30) I and the Father are one.” (John 22:24-30)

In a time when it is difficult to discern what is real, we need to look toward the hill and three crosses. We must focus our view toward the man in the center and not lose sight of the Truth, which He bore witness to and sacrificed His life for that we might live and be saved. This Truth must reside within each one of us if we hope to be with Christ eternally. His voice must be the One we hear within to guide us, advise us, direct us, shepherd us, and save us.

Truth—is as old as God—
His Twin identity
And will endure as long as He
A Co-Eternity— ¹

¹www.americanpoems.com/poets/emilydickinson
² www.bartleby.com

(Sharon G. Tate blog 03/20/16) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word