04/23/23 EASIER CAUGHT THAN TAUGHT

04/23/23 EASIER CAUGHT THAN TAUGHT

Sometimes the truth of God is easier caught than taught.

God's truth is sooner perceived and received by the heart of the humble than by the mind of the brilliant, because truth is more than the communication of temporal fact, truth is the communication of spiritual realities.
(passages taken from New King James Version) 

John 14:6-7
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

John 8:31-32
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
John 18:37
37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

1 John 5:20
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 

Truth is received because it is truth and truth resonates within the mind, regardless of our education. God's truth is not an academic discovery, it is a relational revelation, shown to those who trust Him.

Explaining the truth often confuses the truth in people's minds. I am not arguing for blind acceptance. There must be a foundation of truth that is reasonable, but reason is not the strict domain of the "intellectual." Reason is not simply academic accomplishment. Reason is relational acknowledgement.

I can reason that something is true without knowing all of the facts of the subject. I can reason that something is true because of the source. Obviously there is no absolute reasoning without an absolute source of information. God and His word is our absolute source of information. Whether I comprehend it or not, I know that what God says, and what God does is true to His nature.

I don't have to know or understand the specifics of a subject (though it can be helpful) but if I know the Author, or if I know the Messenger I can know that the message is true, I can know that it is reasonable. If I have trouble understanding the Messenger or Author (God), then I need further enlightenment from Him. Another lesser messenger may help me but often times other messengers confuse the message rather than clarify the message. The biggest help a Christian scholar can be to the Church is to provide a faithful translation of what God said. Human interpretations and philosophies are more detrimental than helpful.

I tell you this because there are so many voices garbling the message. To a great extent, the Author (God) gave us His message clearly in Scripture. He also spoke to His people through appointed and anointed messengers, and ultimately has spoken to us through His Son, the Messenger of the Covenant, and in His written word, given by the Holy Spirit. Today God uses Bible believing, Holy Spirit led human messengers to broadcast His word, His truth.

Through the years men have lost either the Message of God or they have lost the meaning of God's Message. This is when human attempts to convey God's message often confuses the meaning of God's truth. Men think they must explain God's word through fallible human logic or academics. Men settle for human counterfeits because it is easier to fill our minds with worldly wisdom than to yield our minds and lives to Divine reason and authority.

God intended for all men to have a knowledge of His word, His way and His will. However, when men refuse to accept the revealed word of God they resort to man-made philosophies and theologies, usually leading people away from Divine enlightenment rather than into Divine truth.

As a result, men, even sincere and honest men, get caught in the trap of accepting and believing the explanations of men rather than the simple, but profound, word of God. Two important things are needed to understand God's word (at least understand that which He wants us to understand at any given time); these two things include knowing and understanding the Person, Nature and Work of God and also knowing and understanding the word of God. If you are "understanding" God's word, based on the teachings of people who contradict, diminish and reject the word of God then you are not actually understanding God's word.

I get tired of wading through tomes of worldly and fancy footwork theologies, based on human wisdom. I have no time for "Biblical" arguments that glorify man's intellect and charisma. God gave us His word so that we might know Him. He gave us His word so that we might be conformed to His image. He wants to draw us to Himself. Though God is a God of righteousness, judgment and justice, He wants to rescue, redeem and restore fallen men to a right relationship with Himself. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, though He does celebrate the triumph of holiness over sin.
We should fill our hearts and minds with truths that glorify His goodness, His mercy, His kindness, His love, His Justice, His righteousness. 

We get an insight to God's interactive nature, His moral attributes, by considering His special communicable traits instilled within His people through His Holy Spirit, and especially from His description of love, which He refers to as, "the more excellent way."

Galatians 5:22-25
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

As important as the laws, the justice and judgments of God are, we are told,

Romans 13:8-12
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

As important as God's characteristics are, we are told that God is love.

1 John 4:16-19
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Love does not exclude or negate the other characteristics of God, but love is paramount in the characteristics of God. God hates sin but God loved the world to such an extent that He sacrificed His Son to become the Savior of all men.

1 Timothy 2:3-6
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

1 Timothy 4:10-11
10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
11 These things command and teach.