One of the great hymns of the faith is entitled “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus”. The wondrous beauty of this hymn is the mere simplicity of its message. The first line of the hymn reads “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word.” As Christians, we know His Word to be the very Bible from which we build our life upon. The underlying factor of God’s Word is that of “truth”. The pages we read are truth, and upon that truth our Christian life develops. If we trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, as the great hymn implies, we are really trusting in the truth that Christ came to seek and save that which was lost, offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins by which He took our place, and because of these events that transpired an invitation is extended to all men, women, boys and girls of every tribe and tongue to simply call upon the name of Jesus for their salvation. This profound truth we confidently know to be “The Gospel”.
Unfortunately, our pagan society seems to take something as wonderful as the Gospel and abuse it, mislabel it, and attempt to stamp it out. There seems to be a phrase among modern society that says “I’m living my truth”. This expressive statement implies individuality and awareness of being whatever one desires to be. Let me provide you with an illustration. I can take a baseball. This baseball is white, comparative in size to other baseballs, has red stitching, and is of the same durability as any other baseball. Say I decide one day to call this baseball a football. Most of you would probably be calling the mental institution and request that I be wheeled away! But I could call that little baseball a football, basketball, or softball instead of what we know it to be…a baseball. My goal in doing this would be attempting to convince you that it is indeed a football or some other form of ball used for sports. Yet, no matter what I decide to call it, try to convince you it is, or shove my opinion in your face on what I think we collectively should call the ball, it never will change the truth that it is indeed a baseball.
Do you know why this is so? Because the individual who created the baseball had the initial right to name what it would be, how it would look, and how it would be used. For years, we have seen players round the bases after smacking that little ball as hard as they possibly can. It’s made a lot of money, has been the pinnacle of athletic entertainment, and has seen many-a-man make contact with it by way of a long wooden bat.
When God created you and I, He had the ultimate right to name you what you are. I could tell you what I think you ought to be, others can tell you what you ought to be, and you can even try to tell yourself what you ought to be. But without the divine guidance of our creator, our purpose will always be pitifully performed. To live your own truth outside of the creator’s will may seem pleasing to you, but our own truth is trash compared to the gloriously crafted purpose of a purposeful creator.
The most detrimental ideology to our society today is the distortion of the truth. When we allow the ideology of “open truth” to take precedence, we quickly will discover that “truth” is non-existent when paired with opinionated decisions. Absolute truth is the only truth, and that truth is built off of what we know to be absolute. We are confident that the baseball is a baseball, the football is a football, and the softball is a softball. Just because we don’t like the truth, or the truth causes some emotional distress, in no way provides you and I with the authority to change it. We have our opinions, but truth is truth and falsehood is falsehood.
There is only one Gospel, only one truth, and only one hope. I find all three in one almighty God!