Thankful for Truth

November is upon us and I am already feeling the excitement of the coming season.  In the next two months we will have Thanksgiving, Christmas and begin a new year.  I love this time of year.  It is a wonderful time to cozy up and reflect and through our reflecting learn and grow.  As November is the month that holds Thanksgiving, many are beginning to share their 30 days of thankfulness and I wanted to jump on the bandwagon in a way.  I know I will not have time to share an elaborate post on things I am thankful every day for the next month, but every few days I hope to share something I am very thankful for.

So let us begin...

I am thankful for Truth.  Truth is the triune, holy God.  

Truth is a rock and a fortress.  It is immovable.  It is unshakable.  It is unstoppable.  It does not depend on anyone or anything.  It has been before time began and it will remain forever.

We are only able to understand Truth through union and communion with God, and this can only occur through the Gospel.

I love the Gospel.  That a holy God would choose to pursue and save sinners through crushing his blameless son on a cross is absolutely incredible.  Our sermon at church last week stated that, "the cross is the great exchange of the universe," and it most certainly is.  The Gospel is only dependable and possible because it is based on God alone.  I am saved by HIM ALONE.  I have done NOTHING to deserve grace.  I did not seek him, he sought me.  I did not choose him.  He chose me.

That kind of absolute theology where we have no control can be scary for us as individuals as we desire to have control over things...especially control over our own lives.  It is hard for us to come to grasps with the fact that God is sovereign over all things--sun and rain, life and death, sheep and goats, the elect and the cursed.  I have been there and I get it.  I wrestled with that for over a year in college and I cannot say that I totally understand it now ...HOWEVER, there is so much that comes from the truth of the total sovereignty of God.

There is peace.  There is hope.  There is confidence.  There is love.  There is beauty.  There is adoration.  There is laughter.  There is crying.  There is worship.  There is much more.

God is I AM.  He is LORD.  He does not depend on anyone else.  His worth is found solely in himself.  He cannot be defined apart from himself because He alone is holy.  He is perfect in his holiness.  He is perfect in his Love.  He is perfect in his judgment.  He is God.

I think so often we try to put God in a box.  In fact, I have heard and read that phrase several times recently but in a different context.  God does not need our stamp of approval for what we think should be right and wrong.  Just because God hates sin (and He most certainly does) does not mean that He is not love.  God is love, but He is not a fluffy love.  He is not a love that says "Ok, I love you so you can do what you think is best and I will support you in that" NO!  He is a love that says "I am holy and I hate your sin.  In fact, I hate it so much that because I want you for myself, I will send my perfect son to earth to live perfectly among you.  He will take on your flesh.  He will walk like you, He will eat like you, He will laugh like you, He will cry like you, and He will die like you.  BUT  in his death will be undeserved because, unlike you, He will be perfect. For this reason the grave will not be able to hold him.  He will not stay dead.  He will rise and conquer death and create a way for you to be with me forever. You will become new through faith in him and repentance."  Sin is a HUGE deal to God.  It is such a big deal that Jesus not only had to leave his throne in Heaven, but He had to die.  God doesn't take any sin lightly and neither should we.  God is not wishy washy, He is absolute.  All sin leads to death.  There is no life in a lifestyle characterized by sin.  All lives are characterized by sin without Jesus.

It makes me sad when I come into contact with people who do not see and know this truth.  It happens every day.

It saddens me when people criticize people who stand by God's whole word as truth.  When they call us hateful and accuse us of fearing things that are different.  It saddens me not because I want the approval of others, but because I see they are missing the point.  They don't get it.

Because God has graciously allowed me to see and hear truth, I am confident in who He is and who I am in him.  My worth is not found in another's opinion of me.  How sweet to trust in Jesus.  I love the song "Cornerstone" by Hillsong.  I cannot listen to it without worshiping.  Hallelujah!  The Lord reigns forever.  He is over all!  He will never fail.

Listen to "Cornerstone" here...

Oh that more would come to know the true and reigning king.

The bedrock of our lives is the mercy of God.   Without Christ alone, no one would believe.  It is only through his grace that eyes can see truth and ears can hear truth and that hearts can respond to it.

Ah, Sweet Jesus.  Make your name known in my life.  May others see less of me and more of you.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus name

When Darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless stand before the throne.