Lesson 11: Truth exists, and it’s life or death for us to know it.
This is probably the lesson that I want people to grasp the most, but also the one I least know how to argue, articulate, and stress because it’s a truth deep in my spirit and not in my mind. This is such a difficult topic lately, and the pain from some of these conversations grieves my heart when they are not had in Love. I’m not saying I know everything or even what is best most the time, but this I know with all of me. For this, I believe I’d do anything for someone to know, so I will say what I know and say it with confidence and without holding back.
Five and a half years ago, I asked the Lord to show me, help me know what is true – what is true without human fingerprints on it, without my small mind shrinking it, and without the many lies and skewed perceptions from history and culture tainting it. My testimony is all about God answering this plea and He still continues to answer it today.
Many of us agree that there are things that are true and that there are things that are not. Whether you want to call it absolute truth or not, most would say, yes there must be some things that are true. However, so many of us live as if those things don’t matter, or maybe don’t matter that much.
It matters if there is a God or not. It matters what He or She or It is like. It matters if God communicates with us or not. It matters if we were intentionally and uniquely made or if we were an accident. It matters if there is right and wrong. It matters if we do right or wrong. It matters if our lives have purpose and meaning. It matters if that purpose is fulfilled or not. It matters if there is good and evil. It matters if there are sources of such things. It matters if there is life after this and what it is like. It matters. It matters, and it’s worth seeking to know.
In scripture, “to know” something is not to receive a transfer of head knowledge or information about something. To know something is to experience something. It denotes a deep process.
In the Greek, “to know” is ginosko: To learn to know, to come to know, (a process word) to perceive, to understand… It is also a Jewish idiom for sex!
- Ex. John 8:31-32 “So Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.'”
*learning “accurate” theology doesn’t free you; experiencing truth and experiencing Jesus does! This has been a tough scripture for me because I’d known a lot of truth and studied a lot of theology but hadn’t lived a free life at all. I wrote 20 belief statements over major biblical topics and could tell you facts on facts on facts about what’s biblical and point to all the scripture and etymology of words that supports those facts, but I wasn’t experiencing God. I could tell you nearly ever piece of evidence for and against the Bible being the inspired word of God. I wasn’t experiencing truth – I just knew it in my head. Now as I come to know truth with Holy Spirit, to experience it, be vulnerable with it and let it influence me and change me, I am being radically set free. I didn’t even know what it was to be free. I’m just starting to get a taste, and I don’t think I could ever settle for my previous life again.
- Ex. John 17:3 “Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed, ‘Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent…'”
*eternal life isn’t a place; it’s a state of process of coming to know, to experience, to understand God in a deep and intimate way. Humans are wired for connection – the science and psychology behind that is clear. Why wouldn’t our deepest, most necessary and satisfying form of connection be with our Creator, our Father, our Friend, our Savior?
In the Hebrew, “to know” is yadà: to perceive, to be acquainted with, to know by experience…
- Ex. Genesis 4:1 “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain…” Cleeeeaaarly the didn’t just introduce themselves and friend each other on Facebook here.
*Learning head facts about someone does not produce a baby, does not produce LIFE. Getting really intimate with someone does, experiencing them in a deep way does.
- Ex. Ezekiel (the whole book) – I counted myself and in 48 chapters, Ezekiel records that God says or does something, and 71 different times, His reasoning is some variation of, “that they will know I am the Lord their God.”
*God’s heart, desire, design, and actions toward us are for us to know Him! God knows us, and for His people, He did whatever was necessary for them to know Him, and He still works and moves for that end – that end that is not an end but a process.
There are numerous other passages that emphasize this – these are just a few of my favorites.
NOTHING MATTERS MORE THAN YOU KNOWING GOD.
It’s okay if it takes your whole life to figure out, it will – and even then, you will still be wrong about things. It’s okay if you change your mind everyday in your seeking. It’s okay to wrestle, be confused, be frustrated, and not know. But seek to know. It matters because He matters. And it matters because you matter. And you matter because He says so.
He promises us in His Word, “Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Ask and you will receive” (Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9). He promises, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13, Deuteronomy 4:29). The Word says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:26-27).
It’s a process. Start anywhere, but start.
And if you have already started, continue.
It matters. It is life or death to know Him.
That’s the last of my blog series. Thanks for taking the time to read any part of any of them.
Father, I pray the truth that is pure and of you in our blogs would take deep root in good soil. Jesus, thank you for what you have taught me in all the years of my life, and especially for these 11 truths I’ve felt led to share. Would your truth continue to fuel me and guide me and not the deception and lies of this world? Holy Spirit, thank you for giving me a ravenous, insatiable desire to know what is true. Thank you that it is now driven by love and not fear. Holy moly thank you times a billion trillion gazillion for that. I pray you ignite those that feel far from you to draw near, and thank you for drawing near to them in return. Thank you for the hard and beautiful truth that it is only through Jesus that we can truly know you, reach you, and be with you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you did to make that possible. God, you are so vast and so mysterious and so incomprehensible. Thank you that that doesn’t scare me anymore because I know your good, kind, gentle, faithful, loving character because I have experienced it. Thank you that it absolutely excites me to get to experience your endless depths as I know you more and more. Holy Spirit, would you multiply the fruit of your Word and words. Thank you for moving in us and through us, in Jesus’ name, amen y amen.
Give me a call or text if you wanna talk further about any of this. I’d love to hear your thoughts and response, and what God is teaching you both through and apart from this.
817-901-1225
Also, I’m currently still in GA if you wanna hang face to face.
Thanks peeps! Love, Ellie
