Reflection: The importance of asking, “Is it true?”
God loves you… and he seeks your love. God created you so that you could live forever with him in his kingdom. However, he has given you free will to accept his love… or reject it. I wonder what it is that you will choose?
If you are to choose rightly, you must be very sure you know the truth about God. Truth can be difficult to find as there are many different religions teaching different things. The many religions in the world all reflect humankind’s attempt to reach God. Christianity, however, is unique as it concerns God reaching out to us.
The One True God has told us that he alone is God. He has said clearly that he will not share his glory with any other god (Exodus 34:14). The Bible says:
The Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is none other. (Deuteronomy 4:39)
Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (Exodus 34:14)
God says: You shall have no other gods before me. (Deuteronomy 5:7)
This means that you cannot be a Christian and also worship other gods.
The real issue concerning Christianity is this: Is it true? Nothing else really matters. If God really has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, then God is worthy of our full commitment. If God has not; then Christianity is not worthy of anything. So, let me say again: the real issue is – “Is it true?”
If people are so wedded to their need to live autonomously from God that they refuse to investigate whether Jesus is true, then there is little anyone can do. That is simply wilful atheism… and it is not rational.
But for those who dare to seek, their quest is to find an answer to the question: “Is it true?” From this, it follows that discarding Christianity because of abuses committed by the church in history is irrelevant to the question. Discarding Christianity because the church once treated you poorly is similarly irrelevant to the central question. Meeting religious people whom you judge to be hypocritical is also irrelevant. A desire to fit in with society’s atheistic opinion leaders, who tell you that God is not ‘on trend’ – is similarly avoiding the more pertinent question: Is it true?
Whether or not you believe you can live a moral life without being a Christian is also irrelevant to the question. Whether or not Christianity is boring or inconvenient to anyone’s lifestyle is not the issue; the issue is whether or not it is true.
What do you think?
Prayer:
Thank you for your love, and for seeking my love. Thank you for creating me so that I can live forever with you in your kingdom. Thank you for reaching out to me.
*Prayers for this series have been written based on Nick Hawkes’ reflections.