Truth Is True Regardless How You Feel Or Think

This week I was handed a soon-to-be-released book on motherhood, written by a Christian mom desirous to help other moms. I was asked to read the book and review it for some of the women's ministry leaders of our church. The book is easy to read. The author's writing is above average, but it startled me to read in the introduction that she chose to place Questions at the end of each chapter, but would not give Answers. Instead, there would be a section she calls Questions and Responses because she is "uncomfortable with the idea that there is one right answer." I think I could be sympathetic with the author's sentiments if she meant that there are many applications of one right answer. But she clarified further and wrote the following:

"There are no right or wrong answers, only what is the most true for you at this very moment in life."

Again, I understand that at times in life there are no right or wrong answers. For example, I might face a decision with two potential good choices. There would be no right or wrong choice, just two good choices.  However, I read again the last portion of this Christian author's statement:

"...what is most true for you at this very moment in life."

"Most true for you at this very moment in life"? That logic is absurd. Something is either true or not. It makes no difference how I feel or what I think.

For example, if I go into a store and ask a question about how to operate my I-Phone, and then after receiving an answer,  I respond "Listen, at this very moment in life I don't find your response most true for me," I might find the attendant looking at me as if I was crazy.

Frankly, I would be crazy - or at best illogical.

Truth is truth; and the only real fix for life is to know the truth. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

When seeking directions we are often given landmarks. "Look for the McDonald's on the corner and turn right, then pass the Jewish Synagogue and turn left..." When giving directions, one better be certain about the landmarks or the person receiving directions will end up lost.

Our Christian forefathers were very particular about maintaining landmarks of truth. They had strong notions about fixed points of revealed doctrine, and they held tenaciously to what they believed to be biblical truth. Modern progressives (liberals) have abandoned landmarks of truth, and as a result people can't find the Way (Acts 9:2).

There is something very definite in the Bible. Spurgeon once said,

"Truth is not a lump of wax to be shaped at your will, or a roll of cloth to be cut according to the prevailing fashion. The Scriptures are not a box of letters to play with, and make what you like of it, like a wizard's bottle, out of which you may pour anything you choose from atheism up to spiritualism. There is something told me in the Bible—told me for certain— not put before me with a "but" and a "perhaps," and an "if," and a "maybe," and fifty thousand suspicions behind it. The Bible is revealed to me as infallible fact, which must be believed, the opposite of which is deadly error, and comes from the father of lies."

Spurgeon goes on to propose seven eternal and unalterable truths:

• The Bible - God's inspired word which will never lead one astray (e.g. it is infallible).
• The Triune God - God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is three Persons, but one God.
• Christ's Atonement - the only hope for sinners to be right with God is through Christ's sacrifice.
• The New Birth - moral reformation is not enough; God's deliverance is a new birth within.
• The Evil of Sin -  God will judge the wicked for their sins against Him and their fellow man.
• Salvation by Grace - Christ has done for sinners what sinners cannot do for themselves.
• Justification by Faith - Being right with God involves looking to Christ by faith; not one's own works.

These seven truths are inherent to the Good News, or the Gospel. God has not left us in the dark; He has spoken to us in His Word. The Father, the Son and the Spirit is at work in delivering sinners from our sin. Christ saves sinners by becoming their substitute; dying in their stead, bearing our sin and the just consequence of our sin (e.g. "death"). When one comes to faith in Christ, the Spirit "regenerates" (e.g. "makes alive") the inner heart of the believer and grants the gift of "eternal life." This new birth from above begins the transformation of the sinner from the inside/out. This changed life of one in Christ is all by the grace of God, for God is at work in me "both to will and to do His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

When we proclaim the Gospel, we proclaim truth that sets people free. We proclaim the Good News as the mind of God, not our views. The testimony of Jehovah concerning His own Son in reference to the deliverance of sinners is true. We are entrusted with declaring the truth. We cannot alter it to suit the taste of the hearer. We are not originators of the Good News; we are broadcasters of it. We don't make the news; we meme it.

What we've been taught of God, we teach. If I send a message via my secretary, but she alters the message, then she is no longer fit to be my secretary. I need a secretary who will say word for word the message I give. If any one should be angry with my faithful secretary for what was said, then they would be wrong; for their quarrel lies with me. My secretary is a mouthpiece for me; Christians are a mouthpiece for God. The Christian who has God's Word must speak it faithfully as truth.

"Thus saith the Lord."

Of course, we must be careful about the manner in which we convey truth. Truth shouted angrily does nothing but drive hearers away; but truth whispered personally in love pulls hearers in

In addition, there is no surer method of turning people against God's truth than to have it spoken from the lips of those with suspicious. sullen, or shallow character. Spurgeon said, "It is very ridiculous to hear good truth from a bad person; it is like flour in a coal-sack."

Our challenge in a world that needs Jesus Christ is to live lives that reflect the true character of regenerate people - loving, kind, generous, selfless, patient, etc.- in essence, Christ-like - and to keep speaking unalterable truth to people in need of direction! Truth spoken from the lips of those transformed by Truth is transformational in and of itself.

As messengers of the Message, we can't alter the truth.

Believe it. Live it. Teach it.

It's the only way a mom will be free to be the mom God created her to be.