But Jesus speaks truth Lenten question from John #10
We’re only halfway through Jesus’s twenty questions recorded by John! To get through all of them during Lent, we’ll have to pick up our pace—and that means spending more time with the Lord–making room in our hearts for what he wants to tell us. This is what Lent is all about. Let’s not lose the blessings God has for us as we head toward Holy Week.
John 8:36-37, 43, 47 [Jesus replied] “If the Son sets you free, you are truly free. … Some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. … Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! … Since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God.“
I couldn’t hear her.
A person I dearly love spoke words of truth that lacerated my heart and triggered all my defenses.
One thing I understood clearly: I was no longer safe or welcome in her home. I had to get out, as quickly as possible.
I couldn’t, at that time, “listen gladly.” It took me years, literally, to acknowledge and begin to deal with what she said to me. I couldn’t do it by myself. I needed the support and insights of a skilled and compassionate counselor to allow myself to accept and grow from the sharp stab of truth.
The instinctive response of the people in John 8 to the devastating truths Jesus told them (read verses 42-47) was to free themselves by attempting to kill him. Hate the message? Get rid of the messenger.
Remember the disciples’ reactions later on, when Jesus is arrested? They ran away. Peter denied even knowing Jesus. It’s easy to judge them, but in their situation, what would you and I do? In my life, will I stand firm with Jesus, even if this proves costly?
As we approach the time of year when we remember the significance of the crucifixion, John calls us to find the courage to listen to Jesus, and find the wisdom to distinguish his voice from the many others clamoring for our attention, some of them claiming to be his voice yet not producing the fruits of truth and love.
What is blocking me from hearing God’s words to me today? What defenses are triggered in unhealed and fearful places in my mind and my heart? How can I reach the place of listening gladly to his words? Do I need to talk this over with someone whom I trust to help me understand?
2 Corinthians 13:8 For we must always stand for the truth.
First, a special request for prayer: Venezuela has the best opportunity for change in decades, through presidential electionsthis Sunday, July 28. The lead-up has been fraught with disappearances, thefts, and intimidation by the current government against the opposition. Yet an army of citizens are planning to risk everything by monitoring voting sites (see this article). PLEASE PRAY for their protection and for change in Venezuela that will allow millions of refugees to go back home to help rebuild their country. Thank you.
Back to my post:
I’ve done it, and perhaps you have too. An alarming email shows up in my Inbox, or a social media post catches my attention, and I forward or share it without checking the source or the information’s veracity. And later someone lets me know that it’s false. It’s misinformation, and I’ve become part of the web of lies circulating through our society.
I’ve learned, through chagrin and embarrassment, to stop long enough to check before I believe. To pause and verify before I forward.
This simple statement as we come to the end of 2 Corinthians, “We must always stand for the truth,” has challenged me to recommit to more responsible citizenship.
I invite you to consider doing this as well. In this age of “my truth” and “your truth,” let’s reaffirm our belief in truths that don’t shapeshift according to someone’s agenda. Let’s commit to being trustworthy.
Does it matter? Scripture says yes.
Here’s an interesting truth, that perhaps can serve as our starting place:
In the NIV, the word “truth” shows up 137 times; the word “lie” 226 times. This doesn’t count alternate ways of expressing these concepts. In the KJV, those numbers are “truth” 224 times; “lie” 280 times.
Does God care about truth?
Twisting the truth is nothing new. In John 8, Jesus uses the strongest possible language to condemn lying (John 8:44-46), yet people responded by claiming, repeatedly, that he was possessed by a demon. As you read Scripture, notice how often something like this happens. Wrongdoing is not very creative—it just changes its camouflage across time.
In the wake of the assassination attempt on President Trump, I mentioned to a friend I was fact-checking, since rumors and false statements were running rampant on social media. She asked me how to do that. There are many nonpartisan organizations whose people work hard to check facts for us. I usually go to FactCheck.org, AP, Reuters, PolitiFact, Snopes, or Washington Post, but there are others.
No single fact checking organization has time to cover everything. So, if you want to check a news article or a social media post or a speech, Google the headline or main content and see which fact checkers are working on that claim. You can also compare different fact-checking sites to see what they say.
One other practice I follow: If I discover that something I’ve passed on as truth is false, I let people to whom I sent it know that I found out it’s not true. That’s good, but how many of them already passed it on to their contacts? Much better to check BEFORE I send.
Another thing I do is read a variety of news sources: Newsmax AND the Washington Post AND historian Heather Cox Richardson’s daily Letter from an American, for example. I don’t want to get stuck in an information bubble, running the risk of being brainwashed by one angle on things or by the conspiracy theories so rampant on social media.
Why do I go to all this trouble? Because my first loyalty is to the Kingdom of God, who bids me always stand for the truth. We must be careful with whom and with what we align his holy name.
P.S. I expect pushback; that’s OK as long as it’s respectful and you fact check first. (Sigh. I’m an Enneagram 9, so conflict and confrontation are hard for me—including this post.)
I have always had the idea that imitating my Creator opened spiritual paths in my life to which I should pay attention. So, I began seeking that path in my daily life which led me to be more observant. There were many blessings given to me each day. They had been given throughout my life, but there were also hardships. In recalling these situations, it became apparent that there are Godly truths all around us. I began to pursue these truths. The music of my ordinary life was easy to commit to paper.
And then the Holy Spirit intervened. In 2020, when the Lockdown began, it occurred to me that I should deepen my writing and now I had the time to do so.
Each morning I sit aside the first hour of the day to pray and during this time, things I had seen or things I had forgotten would be clearly revealed, and so I put these thoughts on paper and spent most of my time writing. I can honestly say that the ideas that came to me during this time were not conscious ideas. I could use this prayerful time because I was physically alone and isolated. I have known since I was a child that the Triune Trinity is continually close.
I did not set out to write a book. As the Nation and indeed, the World became more and more secular, my concern was that the values which had been instilled in me since childhood were disappearing and perhaps all of us were bogged down with despair; confusion and depression.
But God’s Truth is ever present and everlasting. It is there in the small things and the large; in our daily encounters, in music, in relationships good and bad, in nature. In every aspect of our lives, God’s truth can be found. This book attempts to bring to our minds and our spirits the knowledge that God is always present and He reveals himself in every aspect of our daily lives! We can find the sacred in the secular.
It is worth our time to seek Him and give Him praise!
(Debbie) Read more below about Margaret’s beautiful book. You can find it here.
In troubled spiritual times in our nation, world, and in our daily lives,
we can live with hope and inspiration!
With amazing photographs to illuminate the text, it makes a great gift.
Can wonder really be found In ordinary life? If you’re stuck in thinking the path we walk is ‘merely’ ordinary, nothing could be further from the truth! Light shines through the ordinary, and inspiration can be found in its reflection. I started my search to find truth in the spiritual darkness our nation seems to be in and discovered spiritual truth beyond what I saw and experienced each day.
I invite you to join me on this path. Once seen, I believe you will find, as I did, that the ordinary becomes extraordinary! It is there to be found. We can lift our every-day experiences to the light and behold the ordinary as a sacred gift.
My writing includes poems, short stories and op ed columns accompanied by beautiful photographs which pertain to each subject. These are stories which illuminate the long-held American values that seem to be disappearing. Here’s a sampling:
What’s In Your Ordinary Room Midwest American Values, They Do Exist Soul Food At The Corner Store How Do Single Mothers Survive Laughter Is Important There’s Richness in Solitude Can We Count The Steps of a Lifetime A Cat Teaches A Lesson In Sharing It’s Not Just A Game, It’s Baseball
May you be blest in your search, find your way, and become a blessing to others who may be seeking THE WONDER OF DAILY LIFE.
With love, Margaret
Margaret Phillips Shearer holds degrees in Fine Arts and Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Stephens College. As a professional actress she performed leading roles in over 150 productions in major theatres across the country including the Stratford, Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She appeared in featured roles in film and television including ABC’s six-part mini-series, Black Beauty and as Desdemona in the ABC TV National production of Othello.
In order to spend more time with her two young sons, she moved into the creative development area of film and television, and for over 25 years worked at Disney Studios, Island Pictures, Warner Brothers, Scott Free (Ridley Scott’s Production Company), and DreamWorks in Los Angeles. She was an Op Ed Columnist for the Glendale News Press, owned by the LA Times and distributed throughout the Los Angeles area, all while raising her two sons as a single mother.
Mrs. Shearer is semi-retired, is an active volunteer at her church and still appears in films and television commercials as well as being a lecturer on Shakespeare at local colleges and universities in the Pittsburgh area where she now lives. She is the mother of two sons and has two grandchildren.
Ephesians 4:21-24 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Colossians 3:10 [see 3:1-17] Put on your new nature and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
I’ve enjoyed watching a bed of ferns at my daughter Valerie’shouse this spring, and wish I had taken pictures of each stage. After frost killed lastyear’s growth and the dry stems were cut away, the patch looked dry and dead, not at all pretty.Before we traveled in March, tiny green shoots appeared. In April, the ferns looked like balls, with a few beginning to uncurl. Now, the ferns look like this, fresh and lovely in their new life.An analogy for me of renewal and transformation.
Our pastor in Brazil, invited to speak in another church one Sunday, asked his adolescent son to tell him about the sermon Vini had heard at home. Having spent the sermon time messing around with his friends in the balcony, Vini scrambled for an answer and finally responded, “It was about sin!”
“What did the preacher say about sin?” asked Vini’s father.
“He was against it!” replied his resourceful son.
God is too. Because sin harms his beloved children and it harms those around us. Colossians 3 lists the kinds of attitudes and actions God opposes: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, idolatry, anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, dirty language, lying …. (v. 5-9).
In stark contrast, the new nature Christ offers looks like this: tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love, harmony, peace, thankfulness, wisdom (v. 12-17).
Which of these takes more strength and courage? Destroying something beautiful is always easier than creating it. Anyone can blow something up, including someone else’s reputation.
Still, God forgives our sin, when we name it, confess, and turn away from it. Jesus gave his life to make this possible.
God doesn’t, however, rationalize, gloss over, condone, excuse, or justify sin, any more than a loving parent would laugh and pat the head of a child getting into trouble, or an oncologist would ignore a cancer in order to not cause pain and distress to his patient. Nor does God say, “It’s OK to do wrong as long as you achieve good ends.” He says, “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” (See the rest of that passage too, Galatians 6:7-10.)
Forgiveness isn’t the same as excusing. It’s costly. It says, “This is wrong, and deserves punishment. I accept the punishment in your place, to free you from sin’s power over you.” That freedom often comes, though, with discipline, through experiencing the consequences of what we’ve done.
During our long trek through the world of transplant, I saw a patient recovering from lung transplant outside the hospital, smoking.
In those years, people waited two to three years for a lung transplant. While waiting, around 20% of them died. (See the statistics here.)
So you can imagine my feelings when I saw this patient. I felt it as a punch in the gut, as a slap in the face of each person still waiting for a lung, or for two lungs, as well as to the family of her donor. As total disregard for the preciousness of the gift she had been given.
Is God unkind and unreasonable when he asks us to honor and nurture our new nature, the new abundant life his Son died to offer us?
P.S. This article prompted some of the thoughts in this post.I have no idea how true the author’s premise is, but the question he addresses is oneI hear often from puzzled observers.
1 John 2:7-8 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one–to love one another. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment.
John 15:9, 12, 26 [Jesus said] I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. … This is my commandment: Love each other just as I have loved you. … I will send you the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.
And they’re off on the thousand-mile drive to Oklahoma: Linda, my brother Dan, his wife Diane, and friend John, sharing the driving of the moving van and Linda’s car. The end of a chapter in Linda’s life, and the beginning of a whole new adventure.
Saturday I made pancakes for the crew. I doled out the first six pancakes on the griddle and placed toppings on the table while the pancakes cooked. They looked weird, though, flat and rubbery. I stared at them, puzzled, and suddenly realized I hadn’t put baking powder or soda in the batter.
Everything there except one essential ingredient.
The difference between the first batch and the second was notable enough to take a photo.
It occurred to me that my pancakes could be an analogy of trying to love in our own power vs. including the Holy Spirit to help us love like Jesus did. On my own, my love for others can be flat and flabby. When the Holy Spirit is in charge, though, everything changes: gentleness, beauty, and good humor take the place of tension, stress, and conflict. Have you noticed that?
So now I have another image to remind me of the Holy Spirit “essential ingredient”: pancakes WITH leavening. “Don’t try harder,” they remind me. “Try smarter. Invite the Spirit to work his magic. Then relax into Jesus’s gracious love; his understanding of what each of us needs.”
Isaiah 11:5, 16:5, Revelation 19:11 (John 17:19) The Branch will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. … He will rule with mercy and truth. … [Jesus] was named Faithful and True.
Jesus can only speak truth. Because that’s who he is (John 14:6).
Our enemy, the devil, can only speak lies. Because that’s who he is (John 8:44).
Holy Spirit, give us the discernment to listen to the right voice (John 14:17).
[Jesus said] Dig deep and lay your foundation on solid rock (Luke 6:48, Isaiah 28:16).
Acts 17:10-11 [Jealous Jewish leaders incited a riot against Paul and Silas in Thessalonica, arresting Jason for hosting them.] That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea [19 miles away]. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. The people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.
Someone anonymously sent Dave and me, through our mission address, a typed set of Scriptures often used to motivate defense of the unborn. I love those verses and have used them myself not only in favor of babies in the womb but for others who can’t speak for themselves.
I’ve used them when I speak about the vision God gave our friend Janet of Michael Derek, our fourth child whom we lost to miscarriage. (That story is in chapter 20 of Karis: All I See Is Grace.) A prior vision of Michael, shared with us at his memorial service in 1987, led us to believe his special task in Heaven is to care for the babies who arrive there due to elective abortion. I love thinking Karis assists him in that sacred work.
I’m both intrigued and puzzled about what led someone to send us those Scriptures in the way they did. I would love to know! I would love for that person to share with us whatever concerns are behind their decision to communicate—what exactly?—in that way. Especially if they think we are at fault and need correction. Even more if we have offended them. Jesus teaches us, If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense (Mt 18:15). I invite you, if you’re reading this, to ‘fess up so we can talk, and learn, and grow. Let’s live in the light and have fellowship with each other (1 John 1:7). Let’s speak truth in love (Eph 4:15).
Truth. How easily it gets skewed, and muddied, and misrepresented, and misunderstood. And put into rigid boxes along with things that aren’t true or right or godly. More than ever, we must be people like the Bereans, with open minds to truth, if we are to impact our generation for our Lord.
Sometimes, I’ve found, truth dresses itself differently than we expect. And we have reason to mistrust “truth” when it is dressed in bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, and other wrong behavior (Eph 4:31-32). Instead, Paul says, Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Debra Kornfield 