One Truth, Not Hundreds

I have been reading Ecclesiastes, so I have Solomon to thank because I have all of these ideas running around in my head. I am hoping that the Spirit is going to piece them together for me. Being the wisest guy ever, Solomon probably could figure it all out on his own. The other night, I crawled back into bed after my bathroom trip and God spoke to me. I don’t remember Solomon ever talking about a nighttime bathroom run. I have not pieced it apart entirely, so if anyone has a word.... He told me that the world has a hundred truths, but He only has one truth. We have one truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is our truth.

Perhaps he gave me this because I have lots of questions. I have to be redirected, a lot. Today I was washing the dishes and stuck my hand in a jar of olives that I was going to use for dinner. I just get distracted in my own head, and today it gave me soapy olives. I totally used the olives anyway. I recommend it.

When I get bogged in the words of religion, I have to go back and measure it against what I know of my Lord. I know that I belong to Him. I belong to truth. God wants for us to understand that this life is one of belonging. We do not hold him outside of ourselves and poke Him in the stomach, expecting a cute little Pillsbury dough boy noise. We do not command Him or manipulate Him. Our prayers are not incantations. We stand in awe of Him. Ecclesiastes 3:14, “I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.”

We belong to God. We belong to one truth. I was just talking to my cousin and we were pretty much just lovin’ on Jesus, via telephone. We are so grateful to have a family experience with Christ. This experience has led us to trust who God says He is, which I see as THE biggest piece of truth. To flip this, we also believe who He says we are. That is no short order. We have the Spirit of truth in us. I wish that I trusted that more. The power that is locked in that trust is immense. Now, we belong to Him, but we are not Him, so there is a difference in the two. I have days where the line is totally blurred. I once had a guest Hebrew professor, who explained the idea behind the Jewish Yakima to us. It is a reminder that this is where I end and this is where God begins. I am only this body. I am not God. I think that is beautiful. So, I can choose to invest myself in the vanities of life, but it will count for nothing. I can also choose truth; the only thing that lasts. How often I have made the wrong decision.

This was something else that the Spirit gave me. In speaking of one truth and the acceptance of that, some people get hung up on God’s holiness. This is the opposite of blurring the Creator/Created line. This is getting nowhere near the line. I felt unworthy of God for a long time, and this would be a valid concern if I were asking whether to worship myself, but…God deserves to be worshipped because He is holy, He is kind because He endures me, and He has chosen to do that. So, if this is where you are, you are right. You don’t deserve to be worshipped. We will all worship something, however, so it is a good idea to get over the excuses to avoid God worship (discomfort being the most obvious one). This only means that we are turning that worship back to ourselves. Next thought…

What can we expect then while living in truth? Well, I think that Solomon had a fairly accurate view of life. We can expect change, progress. I love chapter three, especially when I do not think of that horrible song that was popular in the 60s. Everything has a season. There are times for everything, the destructive and the edifying. These are the cycles, worse and better. We see that in everything, behavior, habits, health. These are the givens. We don’t learn when everything is always the same. We would be so bored. God is a dynamic God.

He is truth; we belong to Him, so life is going to be interesting. I can sit back and sigh, while He gives me things to think about and stick my hand in olive jars. My cousin and I were talking about the fact that some of the questions that we use to decipher truth are really the wrong questions. They lead to nothing, anyway. Solomon was telling us that God gives room for us to know certain things, ponder certain things but we are limited because we are human. The only enduring truth is Him. While we struggle to figure Him out, He is just showing off all around us. We are so small and so vain. We will experience the seasons of life so that we can know our God just a little more before He calls us home. Let’s do this with all of our hearts. It is not to make us weary, but to bring us closer to the truth. There is one truth, not hundreds. Let’s concentrate on that.

Father, thank you that we can know you. Thank you that you give us seasons of life to come closer to the one truth, you Jesus. Take us deeper into you today and let us embrace a dynamic life.