Loving the Truth

Loving the Truth
(En Español)

"No lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless" (Rev. 14:5). To become blameless is to be free from falsehood; it is to be delivered from sin and the deception that protects sin.

Yet this process of deliverance is not attained if we are only casually committed to the Lord Jesus. We must be dedicated to the way of truth. Indeed, each of us has been conditioned by decades of unbelief, fear, and an unbridled thought-life, which has reinforced deception.

Christians who tend to automatically assume they are the "chosen of God," have reassured themselves that they could not possibly be deceived. The very thought, "I cannot be deceived" is itself a deception! Let us stay humble and not presume that the calling of God and the choosing of God are alike. "Many are called," Jesus taught, "but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:14). Many tests await the called before they are equipped by God and become His chosen; not the least of these tests is becoming free from deception.

You see, our natural minds were fashioned in a world where the concept of honesty must be enforced by laws. Within our world the bias of our communications media intentionally distorts the facts, advertisers promise the impossible, and people are held spellbound in the fantasy worlds of movies and books. The lie is everywhere and somewhat in everything, and we must accept the possibility that even in those things of which we are sure, there still might be elements of deception.

We do not realize it, but we need revelation to know the truth. People who may appear kind, nice or flattering have proven unkind, cruel and deceitful. And we must admit that we often attempt to appear better than we are as well.

This effort to appear one way while inwardly being another has created a world in which the truth is not apparent, where things that are plainly seen by one can be invisible to another. Deception and confusion so fill this world that in order for us to discern what is right, Scriptures command us to "seek" for, "love," and "buy truth" (Prov. 2:1-5; 2 Thess. 2:10; Prov. 23:23).

Jesus prayed, "[Father] sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17). He was saying, "Father, purify them of the lies and illusions of this age through Your penetrating Word." In Ephesians, Paul tells us that Christ sanctifies the church by cleansing her "by the washing of water with the word . . . that she would be holy and blameless" (Eph. 5:26-27).

This then, embracing the Spirit of Truth and allowing the Word of truth to break the patterns of falsehood and deception in our lives is the process through which we become Christlike -- and this process begins in earnest when we not only hear the truth, but when we love it.

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The preceding teaching was adapted from a chapter in Pastor Frangipane's book, Holiness Truth and the Presence of God. This book is currently on sale and can be ordered from Arrow Publications at www.arrowbookstore.com.