Re:Verse reading–Luke 4:14-30 (day six)
And he added, “I tell you the truth…” Luke 4:24
I need hard words from Jesus, often. I need the chisel of his word to chip away the hardness of my heart. I need the two-edged-swordness of his word to cut between the bone and marrow. In his graciousness, Jesus doesn’t say the things we want to hear, but those things we are desperate to hear, the kind of words that are meant to lead us to repentance.
Paul, when writing to Timothy, told him that there would be a day when people would gather around them “ear ticklers.” (2 Tim. 4:3) Truth is our ears don’t need ear ticklers for our ears to be tickled; we tend to tickle our own ears just fine, all we have to do is avoid the chisel and sword of God’s Word.
This year 2018, more than ever, open his Word, read it, need it. Embrace his hard words, don’t avoid them.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We know by heart as Christians. Jesus spoke God’s Word and only by believing in Jesus, we can walk with Him, free of sinful temptations and enjoy an eternal life with Him in Heaven.
We all have a tendency to sin as soon as we walk into this world. We accept lies as truth and truth as lies. We don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong, immoral or moral any more. We accept opinions as truth and we believe whatever works for us is truth. We are selective in what we want to hear to satisfy our ego. We consider truth based on someone’s facts to stay relevant in this world and to be accepted by men. And as long as we are in this circle of relativism, we will be drawn away from God and will be in the circle of Satan.
Jesus taught us God’s truth and only by learning God’s truth through reading the Bible, God’s Word, that we can be free from Satan’s influences and can find peace, joy, and happiness during our earthy life journey. Only one source of truth is God’s Word.
God’s Word is the secret to unblock a dark, and sinful nature that we inherited since we were born into this world. Focusing more on God’s Word, turning to God, listening and obeying Jesus’ teachings through His church are good resolutions for 2018!
Men may provide temporary solutions but God is the only source and the only one who will provide us with a permanent solution for peace, joy, wisdom, happiness and eternity. Listening to Jesus’ “hard words” can be a life changing. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I am convinced!!
Truth matters. I hope the article below will add to your reading pleasure and analysis why we should follow Jesus. Phuong Callaway’s insights: regardless of what the world thinks, we follow the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. We therefore worship and serve the God of truth, whose Word is truth, and who Himself is true and may be trusted because of his covenant faithfulness.
http://rzim.org/just-thinking/why-truth-matters/