John says in his third epistle, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
There's a vast difference between being a "lover of Truth" and being one who simply knows true information or true doctrines. I believe that one thing that defines John as being a "lover of Truth" is that he loved and knew Truth personified, the Lord Jesus! John's writings about Jesus are very personal writings; much more than simply giving data and facts about the Man, John shares from a deep personal knowing of Him. And the fact that he could receive the vision of the book of "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" from the Holy Spirit speaks to me of John's love of the Truth. His genuine love of Jesus, the Truth, empowered him to be able to receive understanding of Jesus that was very different from what he had known of Christ in the flesh.
To love the Truth (as opposed to having correct information) means:
- To be agressively seeking Jesus, the Truth; i.e., not settling for facts and doctrines about Him but when seeking Him in the Scriptures, crying out to His Spirit for encounter with Jesus and revelation of Who He is and what He's like and how He feels and thinks about His creation in general, and me in particular.
- To have a holy dissatisfaction with what I know about Him and His kingdom; i.e., never content with what I have learned. I'm grateful for what I know but I should be ever pressing into Him and His Spirit for further revelation of the God-Man Who is infinite in His power and wisdom and emotions, etc. The fact that He's infinite means I will be learning from and about Him forever.
- To want Truth so much that I'm willing to "unlearn" what I thought was truth; i.e., there is a lot that we learn along the way that must be unlearned as we mature in God. This is very painful for fallen humans because we find identity and security in believing that everything that we believe is right. It disorients us to discover that something I was so sure of a little while ago isn't quite aligned with the full truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. It takes great courage and humility and desire to love the Truth.
- To walk in the Truth; i.e., to not be hearers only but doers of the Truth, obeying Jesus as He comes to us and instructs us how to walk.
Spirit of God, Spirit of Jesus (Truth), come once again and breathe on our weak desire for Truth. Raise up a Church in these end times that loves Truth, not merely knows truth academically. Here we are; we can't crank up artificial desire but we can place our hearts and minds before You and ask You to awaken desire for Jesus to such a degree that we will embrace Truth even when it cuts across the flesh and human pride. May we, like the Apostle John, find our greatest delight in intimately knowing Truth and having many "children" who are walking in the Truth.
God bless you this week with encounter with Truth Himself!
This ties in with an excellent message we had at a leaders' meeting recently concerning vision. We talk a lot about vision in the church, but we generally mean vision for projects. The brother sharing with us suggested that the only vision that will really make any difference is a vision of God. He used the examples of Isaiah, Paul, and John, to show that it was their vision of the Almighty that translated into such incredible fruitfulness, not their vision for "God's work".
ReplyDeleteAmen to Simon's comment! The book of Revelation is such an example of this - the book is a revelation of the Person of Jesus Christ first of all, an unveiling of the God-Man. As we see and love Him for who He really is, our response will be one of adoring worship and desire to give all for Him; in such a relationship there is great fruit!
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