What Is Truth?

 God's Word, it is truth. Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate, He is truth. 

That which is essentially, foundationally in accord with what is actual, which is. 

The world shirks and suppresses truth. We all do, apart from God's interventions, and are thus given over to delusions: we cannot forsake that which is actual without actively embracing that which is not. To forsake truth is to embrace a lie. 

And so, what would would have, then? What would we prefer? 

Except that God intervenes, we divest ourselves of reality. Having forsaken Him, we have fundamentally forsaken reality, regardless. And even the dividing line is become indistinct to us, for so doing. 

Yet, even as mentally and spiritually dull as we have become, we no less are constrained to inhabit reality--the same physical realm which He created prevails, and we are impacted by the same spiritual principles regardless of deference. Sin reaps disease and death in all spheres, and ultimately spiritual judgment as we enter the presence of the Ancient of Days. 

So, here and now, what is it to walk in truth? What is it to submit to the Holy One of Israel? Even as through His Son? The Blessed Redeemer, Messiah--He shelters and guides. 

And delivers into truth, knowledge, understanding, wisdom--the desire and the ability to know and act upon truth, obeying Him. 

Apart from which, there are certainly exalted structures which parallel His own--counterfeits, rather. We counterfeit what we have rejected, each and every time we reject His truth, because innately dwells the knowledge that He is good and what He has created is good (in as much as left unsullied by our sin's decimating influence). We want to reject the Giver but retain the gifts, moreover. Yet, the gifts are unavoidably dependent upon right reception for appropriate and beneficial use and experience and undertaking. Otherwise, the gifts themselves become our agents of self-destruction. 

Does this make sense to you? Do you understand how this works? 

All good gifts do come from the Father of Light in whom is no shadow of turning. Yet, we cannot rightfully enjoy His good gifts apart from right relationship with Him, or we make use of them wrongly and unto our own harm: right and beneficial use is absolutely intertwined with giving appropriate glory to the Giver, or otherwise any use becomes misuse.  

Even so goes wisdom. All the vain philosophies of man are rot and harm, to the extent that the glory of the Creator is abjectly denied. There may remain echoes of His truth, still, or even what seem to be mirrored reflections of the righteous goodness which He ordains is required of all His creatures--if so, the extent to which the heart and intent deviate from His holy purity, there is a dire and extensive corruption of all (except that He restrains).

See this epitomized at times, when the rulers or most highly esteemed fashion for themselves a manner of righteousness which does not absolutely depend upon a sincere love of God and His Word, centrally (which we all are guilty of to varying degrees, at various times): 

The Pharisees were known and revered as the religious leaders of their day. They were esteemed for being more righteous than the common man, for long study of the Word of God, for seeking to honor their understanding of the Word, and for being set apart unto God, in an overt sense. 

Yet they defied God. To the extent that when He came, in the flesh, they resented, envied, and despised Him so vehemently as to have Him slaughtered. Rather than submitting to Him. Rather than embracing Him. They had a form of godliness but denied all God's sovereign power and right. 

Jesus did not argue with them, in a sense. But He was not swayed by their attempts to argue with Him, rather responded with truth and grace and increasingly severe clarity, calling to repentance. He responded according to truth and grace. As the Father gave. 

Their "truth" was not His truth. His truth was real and absolute, being fundamentally sourced in and upon all the consistency of reality which arose from and rested upon His own essential Being and Nature. Theirs went so far along the same lines, but then subverted love and justice and mercy and the like, exalting self as arbiter...exalting self as God's equal, in so doing. We are not ever as God, though He allows us in our delusions of grandeur to believe we are--this, this is essentially what it is to worship (ie, to give worth and weight to) self as doing so is always and intrinsically instead of God. 

The lines are drawn, but can only be seen in walking in submission to God. Truth can only be discerned as embraced upon knowing it, having become accustomed to loving it, for having come to love and exalt the source of all. 

And knowing truth, will we not stand firm? Even as humbly doing so, which is the appropriate and only apt means of responding to the truth of God's preeminence and majesty in all things: We submit to the Truth-giver. Submitting to His sovereign rule and power, then to walk in submission, for having come to know that we only know as we are known, to the extent which He has drawn back that veil from our eyes. By His Spirit's work in and through us, applying the Word of Truth. Even His Gospel, which is power unto salvation. 

We are always to grow in discerning, by practice of doing so (hinging upon knowing Him, which is to submit to Him and be led of Him). Testing all to know what is of truth. Do not be deceived: Trust in Him who can deliver. He is Truth. And He is true, though all men be liars. 

Hills We Shouldn't Die On

 My flesh does not like the present trials, at all. Nor ever does it. 

I have been so ill-tempered at times over the last few months, in the midst of such onslaught. The Lord has blessed me with far more than is even remotely manageable by any earthly means, so there is absolutely nothing except to submit to Him and plead continually, depending on His aid. There is no other help. 

None, except what comes by His hand. 

Ultimately. 

After all, He turns the hearts of kings like water flowing through His hands. There is no resistance to Him, nor when He hardens or allows us further hardening of our own heart. 

Even so, His will will be accomplished. 

The need to testify has proven dire, in terms of one facet of failure continual for my part: there has been continued experience that He does inhabit the praise of His people, He delights in that sacrifice of praise, and of righteousness: to believe Him, to know Him, to take Him at His Word, and as such submit in humble obedience to the real need to wait upon His salvation and deliverance, come the storm or bleakest night or heartiest assault of the enemy.

There have been two things standing out, in the midst of countless many, these past couple months: 

As a consequence of being enlightened to realize quite how immature we are, as peoples and societies (self-seeking, emotionally-charged, other-effacing behaviors and impulses--largely unchecked, moreover, and with avoidance of all forthrightness to avoid discomfort, selfishly--are fleshly, unbecoming, childish ways). God is the standard. And He is long-suffering. He is patient. He is kind. He has wrath upon injustice and unrighteousness, and forestalls hasty judgments always. He is reserving vengeance and punishment for the day allotted. Even so, in Christ Jesus, He has made a way for there to be reconciliation and forgiveness prior to the day that curtain falls. 

He is not rash. He is not unrighteously self-seeking, to the detriment of others. He does not avoid difficult truths for the sake of saving face, nor for the sake of allowing false peace to be retained. He interjects what is right and guides and rebukes according to gracious, loving truth, and all kindness, in His perfect wisdom. And He disciplines instructively, correctively, effectively, those whom He loves. For our good and for His glory. 

So to endure hostility and harsh treatments, being inclined and giving over to likewise matters at times, myself? This is instructive, corrective, and such an opportunity to grow in grace. Jesus, Himself, was despised and abused--even at times much prior to the final onslaught. 

He did not revile as He was reviled. He endured, submitting to the Father's will--in love for Him and for us, He was not moved to grasp after His right to be treated well, He did not move to assert His pre-eminence when He was abased and disrespected (though, as God, He deserves all honor and prerogative as His rightful due), and He did not become embittered nor scornful at being harshly treated and wholly misunderstood by those who were even nearest Him (His family thought Him insane, if you look across the Gospels, and were coming to "collect Him," at one point in His ministry--even His disciples completely misunderstood and mischaracterized Him, His motives, and His intentions, ultimately refraining from even asking Him for clarification because of being stricken by the weight of how inscrutable was His way and thoughts, for them: they dared not ask Him for clarification, at a point).

How alone and unknown and despised was He who lived and died for the Father's glory and to secure our imputed righteousness, forgiveness, and justification.  

So, who are we to take offense when mistreated? Who are we, to ultimately find fault in others, when it's our very hands and voices which mocked Him, through those of our progenitors--our kinfolk in Adam, of His day and age...crying "Crucify!," and even prior, seeking to maul Him with stones. 

If I am more like the Pharisee, thinking that these ones are not mine own ilk, then how dire a position I'm in. 

Rather, to love in the midst of it all. To be unmoved by petty emotion, but driven by love of God and others, to endure in charity even as with strength of conviction as to speak with gracious kindness unwavering words of truth (though reviled and accosted the more, for so doing). 

Upon being led to repent and follow Him, that is--laying down my own stones. 

That's the thing: there's that back and forth, battling the flesh. I find myself continually craving after a sense of equal treatment with others surrounding me, who are able to walk on even ground: Wanting to be treated well, thought well of, respected, and shown kindness. And when such things are withheld, there's a sense of affront, as though they are each my just desserts (rather than God's wrath and the shame which, otherwise, should actually be upon me for just such a matter as having erred against One so holy and right--let alone any others, even). 

So, there's that. Summed: Being driven by emotion, perceiving all matters as imminent personal threat or of a nature which warrants a self-defensive stance (to reduce harm to self/emotional pain)...is not loving, nor exhibits trust in God, but is instead a very immature response to difficulties and uncertainties. 

He knows our needs. Trust Him to fulfill. 

That's all the time for now, here. May He bless you in the knowledge of Himself, of truth. 

Beneath His Hand

 Sometimes, there seems now an endless stream of activities. Nothing has come, new. Yet somehow there is more to do. 

My time is not well structured, perhaps. Regardless, all I know is to commit this too to the Lord. 

Many things these past six months, and twelve months, and twenty four months, and thirty six months...

...have been so utterly devastating and overwhelming. Yet, in the midst there has been certainty of the absolute call to trust the Lord: He is trustworthy. Even when I fear, I will trust Him. 

Even when I falter and flail, I will trust Him. He is able to deliver to the uttermost. 

Do not cease pressing on in pursuing truth. Do not cease committing all to Jesus. He will not fail you, nor will He forsake. His ways are not our ways, truly, and His thoughts not ours: He is good. 

He is above all. Knows all. Foresees all. And will perfectly accomplish that which will be most glorifying to Him, and most sanctifying for us, as in accord with His will. 

Seek to know Him. Press on. 

We really...need to set aside distractions. I need to. All westernized citizens of earth surely are in need of that, unless delivered already by grace. 

But He will refine. He will purify. And in those moments, there is a crushing. Turn to Him, all the more. 

Testing Ourselves in The Light

So much brokenness. Perhaps the same is not the case everywhere, but in my current personal sphere there is an assault on the unity of the church. Always, there seem rational, reasonable causes. Always, there seems "good reason" for division. 

Who do we think we are, though? Why do we so easily forget the call to be united in Christ? 

This is not a call for ecumenical, false unity, however. Truth divides from error. Period. 

But personal grievances are not a call for forgetting our covenanting with one another, nor for forgetting are covenanting to be shepherded. 

So, I've been seeking the Lord's guidance on these matters. There seem such griefs at the core of all. And don't we all strike out, once grief has set too long without the Master's touch? Job did, we know. He cried out that the Lord should answer his call, or let him be, rather than to persist in griefs. 

That's the progression, for those of us who are fleshly still. Christ did not capitulate to such disheartened, aggrieved cries. In His sorest trial, He cried out for deliverance, if possible, but to submit to the Father's will. And He endured, to the very end, without a turning of heart. He, alone, has and does. 

We, though, want scapegoats--we want, toward the bitterness of our grief--to find some focal point upon which we can set the all, putting our sins upon that one, and casting them into the wilderness for Azazel. However, no matter how that goat is cast down or destroyed, no matter how far into the wilderness it is sent...those sins are not atoned, except by the blood of the True Lamb. 

Don't we seek solace in so many matters, elsewhere, though? Rather than to face bitter truths and have them touched by the searing hand of our Master? Indeed, He wounds to heal. Yet, if we will not present and continue to present to Him our wounds, they fester. 

And they will fester. No matter what woven lace is placed atop, how flowery the speech nor manner. No matter the men of earth who may have their ears turned toward such conspiring--to avert the Holy Gaze, rather than submit to His care.

Even if we fool ourselves and all the world, we will never fool Him--light and darkness are alike transparent before His weighty gaze. He knows our hearts, and our thoughts before we ever turned to consider feeling or thinking. 

And He requires honesty, in the inward parts--honesty with ourselves and with Him. 

Many times, I recall a slapdash sign hanging high on a telephone pole in New Orleans, seen shortly before fleeing that town to preserve my life, "Think that you might be wrong." That unsettled me then, before coming to Christ. 

Now, it reverberates as a cry to remain humble, and to always go to the Word. 

For there is truth, but we are not the arbiters. There is One Way, and His name is Christ. And that which He has revealed of reality is indeed true. And what He's let us know of our own hearts and proclivities is that we should not trust them, but always test ourselves. The heart is deceitfully wicked, and frankly even after being reconciled to Him, there seems an endless deepening of the humility of recognizing quite how unabashedly and uncontrovertibly wrong I am at times--both in my approach to others, my perception of circumstances, and even of my own conception of myself. 

Which, apart from knowing Him and having been led increasingly to be reconciled to truth through His guidance, would be a barren wilderness, itself. 

When we are convinced that we know all things, we don't know at all as we ought, according to Paul. There's a humility in coming to increasingly learn that the depths of wisdom revealed by God, though valid and certain, are still the very shoreline of the depths of the truth which He holds. 

As it goes, we had all suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, and thus were all given over to futile minds. Which isn't to say that He hasn't allowed the preservation of some of our faculty for reasoning, or otherwise we would be bereft of the ability to fend for ourselves in the world, at all. God is merciful beyond comprehension, as it goes. And He does not delight in the death of the wicked, but leaves opening for repentance. And calls some to repent, changing desires as to do so. Or we would all be consumed. 

 To see the havoc run amok, though, makes me long to see more of us have a healthy does of reflection upon where we are wrong. Where are we yet unreconciled to truth, unconformed to Christ, unreconciled to our brothers (even if according to wrong desires, being aloof). 

Temptation that overtakes any one of us is common to all, we know--even if the depths of depravity of those spectrums of illicit desire don't progress within each of us, it's by grace alone. So, which of us can cast stones? 

I know men who are considered international prodigies of the faith, who are blind to their heartlessness and ruthlessness in speech, and who yet would dare decry another for what's perceived as being thus. Calumny is a wretched matter among saints. 

I know I have been blind to my own heartlessness, too. And so I won't speak any more plainly, except the Lord give room. Rather, matters are not as they ought to be. With pride at the heart of matters, that's always the case. 

So, let us all submit to Christ's call to humble ourselves, then. And if we have made commitments, honor them, rather than breaking them and enjoining others to do the same as to quell pangs of conviction. 

When we justify ourselves in our own eyes, we are far from our call. We have no justification except Christ--always beggars of grace. 

To strike a shepherd and scatter the sheep is not the work of Christ. Yet God will prevail, always. And He does indeed wound to heal. 

Praying for mercy on all. 

Sharing in His Sufferings

Then Jesus told his disciples, 
“If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24

This may be brief, depending on various factors. 

The Lord has led me to reflect upon His keeping in the midst of turmoil, again recently. Even as He is keeping me now, in the midst of turmoil.

Since having come to know Christ, there has been a solidarity with Him that prevails in the midst of being pressed on all sides. And even so, He has been leading me in how to articulate what has been the case. At times, I dare not speak of the circumstances at hand, for fear of being tempted to falter in trusting the Lord and due to a sense of holy reverence for the severity of what is underway. 

Surely each of us experience such things, and perhaps just don't reach a point of yearning to be able to reflect openly upon them--understanding is not as desired, perhaps. 

Burgeoning Light

The Lord allows me to keep most matters very close to my heart, which is to say--before Him--until He gives me grace to have a measure of peace or understanding on them. Troubling matters, that is. 

Used to be, there was ever such an onslaught (continuous) of griefs and traumas that exceedingly few matters ever significantly surfaced. Very few. 

He started to change that in 2015. Kept apart to Him, though seeking fellowship. Having known Him for nearly a year. 

He meets us wherever we are--no matter what pit of depravity we've burrowed ourselves in. Yet Jesus Christ assuredly does not leave us there. Coming to know Him savingly is a submission to Him as God, loving Him increasingly and seeking His mercy for sin, ever seeking Him and His guidance. Loving Him changes us, having been changed first by His love (so as to even love Him). 

He does not leave us where He found us. 

Though the Darkness Hide Thee

 There are such times of grief, and seeming toil, when nothing but strife is continual. And even so, the Lord affords momentarily an oasis, brief respite. 

Have we not all been in the throes of turmoil, these last two years now? Nearly unabated. 

And for each cresting wave which falls, then a brief pause before the next, the rapid breath afforded seems sweet but panic is so near. 

The Lord has been so gracious. I can't even bring myself to openly speak of the depths of some of what He has afforded toward me in the last six months, for the breadth of the mercy shown, on a scale which is absolutely beyond all comprehension. Why He would grace me with such tender care is absolutely beyond understanding. Like moving mountains to grant a shrub sunlight to live. And yet, He has. 

Staggering. 

To Love and Obey

 So much is out of sorts. Completely out-of-joint. This is in accord with wide-spread rejection of the Lord, no less. 

The more things change, the more they remain the same. 

And how was it, in Jeremiah's day? That the people were destroyed for a lack of knowledge, and yet loved it that way. 

We eat of the fat of the land and choke on it, as things seem. Except that the Lord is merciful, we would have all been consumed. Yet, even so, He preserves a remnant for Himself. He has glorified His name and will glorify it again. And again. Eternally. 

Return to First Love

 Years ago, another blog was devoted to trying to sort out the incoherence which is modern romance--what is love, and what is it to love and be loved, romantically? 

That seemed the end-all, be-all goal on one front, in life: to find someone to share the experience with, proactively as a parter. The thought of having a husband has always been overwhelming, despite finally reaching a point when I can maintain eye contact while speaking of being a wife. Hopefully, Lord willing, someday. 

But though that relationship is intended, when God-honoring, to mirror in a way the pristine devotion to the Lord--in all purity and holiness--there is a definite limit to the extent which that reflects what it is to love and walk in fellowship with the Lord. The extent of the union is moreso what's reflected--a wholesale unity of heart and mind being pursued, with devotion and all charity toward the beloved. Again, in God-honoring relationships. 

Which is where things go awry in trying to find an understanding of love in the world--it's all broken, selfish, short-sighted, objectifying, and many times defiling. So, in essence, the so-called love touted by the world is not love at all. 

Right Relationship: I Am NOT a Man

 We live in a world tainted by sin. And even aside of that, there are specific ways which God has ordered for matters to operate--when they do so rightly, there should be no surprise at that.

Interaction between men and women is so fraught with difficulty at this point. Frankly, I don't know that matters are the same for all, but based on what I read in the Scriptures, noting even how Scripture makes sense of my experiences and observations...I have to conclude that it is, and various of us are just aware to varying degrees. 

Going to start with this--one of the largest fundamental matters the Lord has been helping me to learn is this: men and women are not the same. Period. Both human, significantly different. 

Even saying that sounds weird, though--the fact that men and women are different should go without saying. And maybe at some point in history that was so, but it's not the case now. 

The Downward Trend of Delusion

 The world is so opposed to God. He gives us over to judgment, then--we effectively reject reality, and He allows that up to a point. Which is judgment, moreover.

To be allowed to have what we want, when what we want actively destroys us...is judgment. Mercy is entwined in that, in the sense that the grief that's wrought, the suffering experienced, and the devastation observed--all these are a stark warning to us to turn from that course of self- and otherly-destruction and toward what would aid. 

We are so far at this point, though, that our world has become a parody: people in some fringe groups at this point are actively cutting off healthy body parts because they identify with being disabled. We are actively maiming ourselves and literally sterilizing ourselves and committing genocide on ourselves--wholesale slaughter--and calling these things freedom. 

Figments of Fidelity: On Attempted Reconciliation and Communication in the World

And, as with my family, if I can't have interactions founded upon and centered in truth...but only ones which are destructive...then, except the Lord were continuing to hold me still in the midst of that utter discord...I've pleaded for truth, I've pleaded for reconciliation, I've pleaded reconciliation with God above all. And have found no room. 

The Lord described explicitly the course of steps to take in seeking to make amends when someone has wronged us, in Matthew 18: we go to them privately. Then, if they won't deal forthrightly, there's the discussion with another present. And ultimately, if that's not received honorably, elders are also informed and brought into discussion. If there's still no honest reconciliation, the relationship has been lost: all space for intimacy and trust has been eroded and ultimately denied, the bond of perceived fidelity has been broken without recourse. We no longer continue in close quarters, but are made strangers.  

For Freedom to Obey, We are Set Free

Genesis 19:20, Genesis 19:22

Don't ask to go to Zoar [fixed link 11/13/21]. When the Lord directs, follow. 

2 Peter 2:7-9

Galatians 5:1

God is Great

 

God indeed is great, dear friend. ❤️ He is the Great Redeemer…and so much more.

19How great is Your goodness, 

Which You have stored up for those who fear You, 

Which You have performed for those who take refuge in You, 

Before the sons of mankind!

…

24Be strong and let your heart take  courage, 

All you who wait for the LORD.

Demoralization of a Culture

 There will not be time to outlay this significantly right now. The night is too far spent, too much grief already, and even joys. 

Many times recently, the Lord brings to mind the passage/s about folks crying out for rocks to hide them. In the midst of sore judgment, rather than cry out to God for mercy and aid, the hardness of hearts and the depraved excesses of pride yield over to crying out for the inert to shield against the infinite, sovereign, majestic, Omniscient One. Such blatant delusion. Such absolute dereliction of duty, moreover--rather than the worship the One we were created to worship, there's a hardening all the more against Him. 

Spitting in His face, again and again, moreover. And the more He presses the issue, the further the driving of one's heels into the ground in defiance--asking even nearly for death to hide one from His sharp focus and heavy hand. Rather than submit to God. 

He will not be mocked. Though for a time, things may seem otherwise, and lasciviousness and lewd speech and all manner of evil and lawlessness reigns--every bit as much in speech, then so as effected in heart and thought...depravity unto depravity, spewing forth madness unto damnation. Despising all good, defiling all which is pure, and degrading the most sanctified of all matters...as an outworking of absolute malice toward the One who reigns, untouched by all. 

We cannot unseat Him. We cannot throw off His chains of right order and morality, no matter that we turn our courses solely to evil and think only what is defiling and detrimental and destructive unto ourselves and all others, having so set our faces as flint to attempt to degrade Him and denude His status.