Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Hi all,
Today’s meditation is on the difference between truth
and facts. They are not the same. We may think they are, but we are mistaken.
Jesus cannot be downgraded to being merely a “fact”. He is life itself. Facts
do not have life in them. Only Jesus Christ has life. We need to establish the
difference.
Blessings,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 18 December 2012
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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TRUTH
OR FACTS
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Springbok Radio: For me there is a strange nostalgia contained in
these two words. A desire for things that are dead and gone. Yet I’m among the
many that deserted radio for the questionable pleasures of Television. I
suppose it was inevitable. Much the same had happened all over the world as
the “one-eyed monster” invaded our homes. It’s still a “one-eyed monster”
although some of us have become a little more discerning. I “cut my teeth” on
BBC TV in UK. Back then, there was BBC and ITV. The essential difference was
that ITV had “commercials”. I’m not charmed when, at a key point in the show,
we are interrupted. We have to see more garbage about the advantage of one
washing up liquid verses another. So I stuck with BBC. There was no
equivalent in USA or Canada. I learned to switch off the sound during the
commercials. It was also a convenient spot to attend to the calls of nature,
make a cup of tea or get a beer out of the fridge.
In 1974, there was no TV in South Africa. This meant that I experienced
a certain amount of withdrawal symptoms from TV’s mindlessness. But, there
was Springbok Radio! Good old Springbok radio. But it couldn’t last. TV
arrived in RSA in 1976. The programmes were bad then. They are worse now.
Thanks to our daughter, we have DSTV. It’s available on all the sets
throughout our home. 3 bedrooms, 2 lounges, our flat and both outside rooms.
She has an HD PVR with two channels available for us. There are now some 90
odd channels to choose from. Most of them are junk and don’t challenge the
imagination of a fruit fly. We get bombarded with “truth” constantly. We can
even get the news from Russia. Some of the programmes are in foreign
languages. There is also SABC 1, 2 and 3 as well as E-TV. You’d think that
there would be something worth watching. Well, there is “Animal Planet” and
one or two documentary channels with a bit of crime and investigation thrown
in. But, by and large, it is all junk!
Springbok Radio had a programme on Tuesday nights called, “Consider
Your Verdict”. As a youngster I learned to recite, “Do you swear that the evidence you are about to give will be the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” The answer was never “No!” Later, when I’d committed my life
to Jesus and started to get into the Bible, it occurred to me how ludicrous
the statement was. Springbok Radio and the courtrooms of the world have no
idea that the truth is Jesus. 6 Jesus
told him, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one can come to the
Father except through Me. John 14:6 NLT Nothing
else is the truth. No one else can say it. Truth and facts have somehow
merged. It makes life for the Christian somewhat confusing. But after almost
40 years of mind-destroying TV, it’s not really surprising!
Jim
& Phyllida Strickland
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32 And you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free."
John 8:32 NLT
17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3:17 NLT
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set
you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 ESV
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be
free indeed.
John 8:36 ESV
31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not
children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.
Galatians 4:31 NLT
16 yet we know that a person is not
justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also
have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ
and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be
justified.
Galatians 2:16 ESV
25 But the one who looks into the perfect
law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a
doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
James 1:25 ESV
1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make
sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Galatians 5:1 NLT
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Are you among the many who make the big mistake,
Of thinking that a fact is truth? Christians should forsake,
This way of double thinking. These two are not the same.
Jesus said, “I AM THE TRUTH”, which nothing else can claim.
Only He can say that. The truth is Him alone.
It happens to be factual. It also is well known.
A fact may not be Jesus. A fact could be your hat.
But sometime in the future? Well, that’s the end of that!
The truth must be the person of Jesus Christ the King.
And truth is something changeless. It doesn’t bend or swing.
It’s someone to rely on regardless of the facts.
It’s someone sure and steadfast, no matter how life acts.
The truth is only Jesus. He’s absolutely sure,
And even when worlds pass away, Christ Jesus will endure.
Facts have no endurance. They change from time to time.
They are unreliable and hardly worth a dime.
A clock may be misleading. It may say half past three.
But just one second later, that time is history.
My garden may look beautiful. But if it is neglected,
The weeds will soon take over and beauty is rejected.
It is a Man who sets you free; it’s not a bunch of facts.
Of course there’s no denying religious things attract.
But all of our kowtowing and our ceremony,
Are merely the distractions, we think will set us free!
It’s Jesus Christ Who frees us. No substitute will do.
Nothing else can take His place. He’s faithful and He’s true.
And when the “truth” has set you free, you will be free indeed.
It’s not the fancy clothes you wear. That cannot meet your need.
You may comply with all the facts. You may think you are right.
But if you haven’t got “THE TRUTH”, it’s useless in God’s sight.
Facts are the slave woman. So if you’re of her kind,
Then you will be in bondage and freedom you won’t find!
But if you’re a descendent of the woman who is free.
Then Jesus Christ will be your Lord for all eternity.
You never can be justified by following the Law.
That cannot be the reason God gave it to us for.
The facts can never make a path that leads to God Most High.
We have to have the Truth of God; and He will never die.
Jim
Strickland
Written
18th December 2012
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