“I tell you the truth”

As I finish the book “Soul Cravings” by McManus, the word “truth” is mentioned several times.

I searched www.biblegateway.com for the word truth and realized that the phrase, “I tell you the truth,” is found 78 times in the NIV.

Jesus is all about the truth.  In fact, in John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life…..”

Check out some of the lines from “Soul Cravings.”

“Jesus didn’t come advocating a better idea.”

“Jesus’ claim was nothing less than “I am the truth.”

“He moved from rational to relational. He was tell the disciples the truth is not an answer, it is a PERSON………..No matter how many true things you come to know, they will never leave you satisfied until you find your way to the ONE who is the very source of truth.”

“Jesus invites us to know him as the One who is the way, the truth and the life.”

 Our search for truth in this world is a natural and internal desire for Jesus.  He is the cool water that quenches our thirst.  He is the calm in the storm.   He is that still small voice in the quiet and that same still small voice in the chaos of our lives.

McManus finishes a section with this: “When we are drowning in the counterfeit, our souls become sick. When we are immersed in what is true, we begin to experience wholeness and health.  Even when you feel like you’re driving blind, full spead ahead in the middle of the night, you have to keep going; you have to continue searching for truth; you have to keep looking for meaning; you have to keep trying to make sense of life. When life doesn’t make sense, it becomes all about trust.  Sometimes you’re driving full spead down a very dark road.  All you can do is trust the driver and let him take you home.”

Jesus is with us as we enter the storms.  Trust the driver!

John 8:32   “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

That truth is Jesus. 

“Then you will know Jesus and Jesus will set you free!!”

My search in this life is ultimately about truth.  It’s a natural craving to find truth.  It’s tough to find because this world is full of deception.   Deception is easy to find and the truth seems to be a challenge.   It’s  only a challenge to me because I take my eyes off of the TRUTH.

Jesus says, “I am the way, the TRUTH and the life…”

I tell you the truth…….I make it harder than it should be!

Can you breathe?

I have been reading a book titled “Soul Cravings” by McManus.  One section deals with the topic of Meaning.

Life is full of meaning.

Galatians 3:13-14 (MSG)  says…..Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.

This translation mentions “the air is cleared.”

Now, read this section of McManus’s book…

“Every moment of your life you breathe.  You’ve said a thousand times, you can’t trust something you can’t see.  Of course, you’re talking about God, not about oxygen.

Oxygen does not count.

You clearly need oxygen. You can’t live without it. So you breathe, you inhale and exhale, never even contemplating if your next breath will be your last…….

The only real option is to stop breathing and die or to live by faith and just keep right on breathing what you cannot see and really do not know.

The word for “spririt” in both Hebrew culture and the Greek is also the word for “wind” and “breath.” 

Is it possible that our souls are suffocating, desperately trying to inhale, to breathe in God, but we’re afraid to trust in something we can’t see, something we can’t prove?”

Are we suffocating?   Are our souls craving a relationship with the Master?

Check out how Galatians 3 ends….

“26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

We are clothed in Christ and are one in Christ Jesus!!

We have been declared heirs according to HIS promise.

I’ve learned today to inhale…………….then exhale………inhale…..then exhale………God’s word.

Breathe in God.   Seek that oneness with Christ. 

This search stretches me, but every challenge and goal should stretch me….I find more and more meaning when I’m stretched.

Life is full of meaning! 

Inhale….exhale….inhale….exhale…..Thank you Father God!