Is it true?
2009-11-10 - Charné Pretorius
There once was an out of work actor named Daniel. He was so down and out that he’s ready to accept any acting part that came along. One day he saw an advertisement in the paper: ACTOR NEEDED TO PLAY A GORILLA. "I could do that," Daniel thought.
Daniel arranged an interview. The employer turned out to be the local zoo. The zoo had spent too much money renovating the grounds and improving the habitat that they could not afford the gorilla. So, until they could get more funding, they’ve decided to use an actor in a gorilla suit. Needing the money, Daniel took the job.
At first, he felt not only dishonest by fooling the customers but also undignified in the ape suit. But after a few days on the job, he begins to be amused by all the attention and started to put on a show for the spectators—hanging upside-down from the branches, swinging on vines, climbing up cage walls and roaring beating his chest. Soon, Daniel is drawing a sizable crowd.
One day, when Daniel was swinging on a vine to show off to some children, his hand slips and he goes flying over the wall into the lion’s den. He panicked. There was a huge lion not twenty feet away, and it looked very hungry. So the man in the gorilla suit started jumping up and down, screaming and yelling, "Help, help! Get me out of here! I’m not really a gorilla! I’m a man in a gorilla suit! Heeellp!"
The lion quickly pounced on the man, held him down and said, "Will you SHUT UP! You’re going to get both of us fired!!!"
INDEED THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM…
JOHN 8:31-32
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
KNOW
To ‘know’ is defined here as more than an intellectual understanding. It goes much deeper than merely being acquainted with something. Literally translated it speaks of the intimacy that exists between a man and woman in marriage. To know the truth is to be intimate with the truth, to be one with it.
TRUTH
What is the truth? Is it what we see or what we have heard? Is it what we can feel or what we have experienced? Is it in the opinion of an expert or in the words of the wise? Who decides what is true?
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
Jesus = Word of God = Truth
FREE
To set free means to liberate or deliver from bondage
When we know, intimately through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and become one with the truth, the Word of God on any matter, then we will be set free, liberated and delivered from all bondage.
IS IT TRUE?
In Luke 1 we find the most amazing example of how our reality, how our facts, how our impossibilities do not determine the truth of God.
Elizabeth was called barren. By whom? By all who knew her. Why? It was true. According to us yes but not according to God. He called her a mother. He called her womb fruitful. He called her by His plan and purpose and not by the facts.
We need not deny our own truth but rather we should get to know His truth in a way that will change us. We would surely rather be who He says we are than be who the world says we are.
Whose report shall we believe? We shall believe the report of the Lord.
His report says:
To the lost – be saved
To the sick – be healed
To the poor – be prosperous
To the broken – be whole
To the captive – be free
To the weary – be revived
To the guilty – be forgiven
To the anxious – be at peace
There is a truth today that will change our world and it is the love of God towards all humanity, towards me, towards you right now. There is a truth concerning your marriage, your children, your career, your entire existence and it is all good. Know it and be free!
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