TELLING THE TRUTH

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Dallas Willard (1935-2013) wrote, “Many passages in scripture clearly show the use of reason exemplified under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I would challenge you to analyze Acts 2:7–36. You will find it to be a logical progression in which one hammer blow of reason after another comes down. Peter, when he stood up, was not just sort of tossing out anything that came into his head, thinking, “Well, the Holy Spirit will take care of it.” No, the Holy Spirit was guiding him to reason well. And reasoning well under the direction of the Holy Spirit drove a shaft of truth into the hearts of those who heard Peter. You may recall that scripture says, “They were cut to the heart” (v. 37). They were stabbed in the heart, because the truth came home to them. The only thing that can convict us in such a way as to bring us to a clear decision for Christ is truth. Truth, not feeling. Feeling is important, but one of our problems today is that so many folks have accepted the invitation to enter the kingdom of God merely on the basis of a feeling. They’ve been encouraged to do so because they’ve had some bad experience or other, so they are told they should come forward and say or do something. I’m not necessarily saying that’s wrong; I’m just saying that doesn’t really bring them to the kind of clarity that is called for in a disciple of Christ.”

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jesus