To Encourage You

John 18:37 “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

Are you interested in what Jesus had to say?  Do you read His words?  Do you have ears to hear His message?  If you do, there is only one reason: you are what Jesus called “of the truth.” 

Not everyone is like that. In fact, the vast majority are not.  Certainly Pilate, to whom Jesus spoke the words above, wasn’t.  In fact, Pilate’s cynical reply to this statement from Christ was “What is truth?”  He certainly wasn’t “of the truth” as he apparently didn’t believe there was such a thing. 

So what about you?  Are you “of the truth?”  Is your life based and rooted in Truth, or in something else?  If it’s something else than Christ, it’s clear that Jesus is telling us we are of something other than the truth and “something other than the truth” is, by definition, a lie.  That should disturb anyone who is in such a situation.  Their decisions in life are ultimately predicated on lies.  Their views on where they’ve come from and why they are here are all based on lies.  So are their views on what the future holds.  Whatever they’re hoping for or trusting in, if it’s something other than Jesus, who called Himself “the Truth,” then those hopes will fail them, because they are rooted in lies. 

The whole purpose Jesus came to earth was to bear witness to the truth – the truth about life, death, eternity, and the Kingdom of God.  Life comes from Christ and Christ alone and He alone knows the truth about life.  And He wants us to know the Truth about everything and anything that matters most in life.  But the only way we will ever know such things is if we are “of the truth.”  In other words, begotten of the Truth, born from above, a son or daughter of God, who is Truth.  That only comes by repentance of the sinful unbelief and lies that have bound us for our entire lives, and belief in the Truth, the Son of God. 

So again, do you listen to His voice?  Jesus said elsewhere “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).  It should be a simple choice to make – knowing and obeying the truth, or following a lie.  There are only two ways. Sadly, most will follow the broad way that leads to destruction. It’s a way that promises good things, but cannot deliver, because it is a based on lies and deception.  Jesus said that it is the narrow way that leads to life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:14).  That’s because for any one truth there are many, many lies.  The Truth is narrow, unwavering, sure, but it is the only way that leads to life.

So, what are you listening to?  Are you “of the truth?”  If not, you can be, by believing in Jesus, who alone is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).