December 12, 2020 – Saturday Afternoon
“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” ~1 John 5:20
We live in a very fast paced and rapidly changing world; in fact, in the time it takes you to read this, you will have already changed from when you began to read it. In addition, our world, both the material world and the world of mankind, is also filled to overflowing with variations and distortions of reality. Because things move so quickly, it is easier and easier to develop, disseminate, and believe in “alternate” realities; acting upon such lies in turn leads to a new reality that is true, but terribly flawed. On top of all that, simulations, imaginations, virtual realities, and disguises all lend themselves (with these others) to creating the crazy and confused culture of humanity in which we live.
Sounds pretty bad, eh? It is. Since Adam & Eve chose to replace God’s true reality with Satan’s counterfeit, we have been doomed to live with, by, and for lies. Not only do we tell them and condone them, we actually make life decisions based upon them! We are told in Jeremiah 17 that the human heart is deceitful above all things and in Romans 3 that all have practiced deceit with their tongues. This isn’t a surprise, because if we are honest with ourselves we see that we are constantly prone to some distortion of what God declares to be true. The consequences of those distortions bring about the great evils we see in and around us. Change, decay, deceit, and darkness define the plight of every single human being; there is no hope within the confines of humanity.
On that hopeless note we think of Christmas and the verse copied above… Instead of leaving us to our incapable and helpless state, God chose to reveal His true truth, His perfect love, and His awesome redemption through Jesus Christ. Jesus came as a perfect human, fully God and fully man, in order to be the spotless Lamb Who takes away the sin of the world, in obedience to His Father, and so that we might be reconciled to our Creator and God. In doing so, Jesus conquered the power of the father of lies (Satan) and He’s given those who trust in Him the understanding to know Truth. He is the Author and Embodiment of truth and in abiding (remaining) in Him, we can live every moment with His true reality.
Truth matters, especially when surrounded by so many distortions of it! Let us cling to the precious promises found in 1 John 5:20 and experience the eternal life – knowing the Father and the Son – that Christmas is all about. As we do, the counterfeit realities of this world and of our old deceitful heart will become evident and we will be equipped to live with the right perspective – of ourselves, of each other, and of the world around us. Let us be done with lies and allow Him to transform our minds with His truth. Praise the Lord that Jesus has come and given us access to His truth! Praise Him for giving us the opportunity to be set free from deceit and to live in reality with Him!