Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17
There's a debate in the world regarding what truth is. We shall not
join in that debate in this discus, but we shall simply say that Truth
is a person by whom we are able to see everything as they are. Jesus
said of Himself, I am the Truth. But Jesus, praying to the Father for
the church, asked Him to sanctify her with the truth for His word is
truth.
Of truth, we can therefore say that it reports all things as they
are, without exaggeration of any kind. This is exactly what the word of
God does and is. Truth reveals God as He is - infinitely holy and
loving, severe and kind; shows man as he is - desperately wicked and
evil, incapable of any good, entirely sinful and corrupt; the devil as
he is - one who steals, kills and destroys, a liar, tempter and an enemy
of both man and God. Whatever truth says about anything is exactly what
that thing is.
When the truth speaks about heaven, it reveals it as it is, a place
that is holy and desirable to be in; when the truth speaks about hell,
it reveals it in its exact form, a place of eternal punishment, where
its fire is unquenchable, reserved for Satan and his angels, to be
dreaded by all; when the truth speaks of grace, it presents it as it is,
the unmitigated, undeserving mercy of God for the sinner, revealed in
Christ Jesus; when the truth speaks about sin, it presents it as it is,
odious, damning the soul to the uttermost; when truth speaks of this
life, it shows it in its true light, brief and will soon fade away;
whatsoever it is that truth says about anything, it shows it as it is,
unblemished, and unexaggerated.
Whatever you want to know as it is, consult the truth. Those who
wrestle with the truth seek their demise; after they are gone, truth
remains to instruct the wise at heart. Is it any wonder why truth
admonishes all to buy it and sell it not?
Since we have seen that truth is the presentation of things as they
are, it will be noble to trust it for guidance in life, and since the
word of God is truth, then to see things by it is to se them as they
really are. How wise it is therefore to order one's life by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of Truth.
Toni
