Mk 12:14 They *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. James 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Jn 8:32 “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. We hear this passage and we love the idea of being set free! We are in love with the idea that we are a person who cherishes and absolutely LOVES the truth! …..until someone tells us the actual truth after we have been listening and believing untruth for a long time. The truth can set us free, but when we have listened to & gone along with untruth or lies for a long, long time, it is absolutely brutal to hear,an assault on our emotions, an affront to the idea of what we think reality is! If you saw the Matrix movies,which I imagine you did, you remember that epic scene where part where Morpheus is telling NEO about the Matrix and then offers him the blue or the red pill! Morpheus tells NEO if he takes the blue pill ,he can go on believing what he always has, but if he takes the red pill he has to be willing to change his mind(repent) and see the truth about what the Matrix is,which he later finds out is an alternative reality created by machines. We are a lot like the regular folks Jack Nicholson’s iconic character Colonel Nathan Jessep in the movie ,”A Few Good Men” was talking about when he tells the lawyer,”you can’t handle the truth!”. The truth about the way we really are, requires that we realize we are helpless and hopeless without the life-changing power of receiving the Gospel and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out. Apart from God “we can do nothing”. Jesus said. Jn 15:5 The problem with truth is,by its very definition,it has to be impartial and completely unbiased toward anyone or anything including our selves and our “sacred cows”,those “lies we hold onto” . These might have been programmed into our thinking by our wicked culture or by our upbringing or by the media. For a long long time in our nation and culture we have been programmed to favor certain groups over other groups. We have also been told not just that there are good guys and bad guys but who the good guys and bad guys are! This is called favoritism or bias or prejudice. The answer to prejudice isn’t to show favoritism or bias for one group over another, it is to show the same objective view towards all. To believe the truth, we cannot pre-judge or be prejudiced. On one hand what eventually is revealed that is true must hold up to the scrutiny of the light shone on it and the truth is the truth whether the media says it or our culture says it. Our entire culture shows partiality and demonizes different groups over another,right or wrong.
“I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him Acts 10:34-35 In our society we have been indoctrinated and accustomed to show partiality and honor to one group over another group and to the ones we feel weren’t treated fairly they are shown special favoritism. But when someone comes along and utters the truth about this partiality and the unfair way things really are portrayed he is branded a liar and troublemaker. But isn’t he actually just telling the truth that everyone has chosen NOT to hear? Isn’t this why John the Baptist was beheaded and Jesus crucified? Isn’t this why the prophets experienced scorn or mockery? Or modern-day prophets like MLK who preached impartiality not favoritism was martyred? Jesus didn’t make any friends when he exclaimed that those in the temple selling doves for sacrifice, turned a house of prayer into a “den of thieves” ! Tough to hear and insulting but actually true. Maybe we need more back bone just to HEAR the truth ,let alone begin to say it. |
AuthorPastor Marc Lawson Archives
July 2018
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