Walking in Truth

When the Lord Jesus called me to serve Him and I in effect said yes, the first words He spoke to me that day was the command, "Read my word and start in Matthew." I obeyed and found out that He said of Himself in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John the Apostle wrote in 3rd John 1:4  "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." What a statement that is! I guess that there is no greater joy than to know that your children are walking in the truth of God's word and no greater heartbreak than to watch those you love not walk in truth of God's Word. 

In John 17:16-17 Jesus said of His disciples that they were "not of the world, even as I am not of the world." He went on with this prayer and statement in verse 17, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."  In John 18 37b-38a, when the Lord was being interviewed by Pontius Pilate prior to His crucifixion, Jesus said, "... To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?"  A lot of folks today ask the same question Pilate asked, what is truth? If one doesn't know what the truth is, it would be hard for them to walk in truth (yet they are without excuse, see Romans 1:20) But the Lord Jesus gave us the answer to what truth is. If we don't walk in truth, we who profess ourselves to be Christians are also without excuse. 

I remember a question I asked of the Tigard Oregon church while I was their pastor. It was something on this line, "is there some part of the Word of God you don't agree with? What part of Jesus don't you like?" The Bible says in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And then in verse 14 of the same chapter, the Bible says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." I ask again, what part of the Lord Jesus don't you like or agree with? I love that old chorus we used to sing:
     "If Jesus said it I Believe it, His word cannot lie. 
     If its written in the Bible, I'll believe it til I die.
     Though the mountains be removed and cast into the sea, 
     His word will live forever, throughout eternity!"

I still rejoice when I hear that my children are walking in the truth and am still heartbroken when I hear they are not. It is not my intent or desire to stand in judgment but there is One who will judge us. The Lord Jesus told the Jews in John 12:14, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." One day when all has been said and done and we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, (see 2nd Corinthians 5:10) I will rejoice with all those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus, according to His word. I will rejoice that I chose to walk in the truth of God's word. In that day, will you also rejoice?