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THE
WHOLE TRUTH "I am the WAY
and the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one
WHY
is it that most of us do not
want to hear plain truth? We run from it, and
if we have no option but to look at it squarely, it has to be made presentable and
palatable to our taste. We repeatedly dance
around it instead of looking it in the face and taking responsibility. We take a situation knowing full well it is
not in keeping with our Christian faith and try to pretty it up, transforming it this way
and that way but it still is never quite right although we “pronounce” it so. A lie is a distortion of truth. As Catholic Christians, we ask ourselves what is
truth? Real truth has the qualities of being genuine, actual,
factual, legitimate, honest, exact, authentic, and most importantly infallible. Because we have accepted Christ in faith, we are
backed by the Holy Spirit He promised to give all who believe in Him. Often we sacrifice truth because we are afraid that it will limit and prevent us from enjoying the things we want to do, to say, or to have. But when we know what Christ taught us as truth, it is a something that will stand unerringly steadfast until the end of the world. In the Gospel of John 14:5-6 when the Apostle Thomas asked Jesus, “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." And again in Matthew 5:18: I I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. And so we must count on Jesus Christ to lead us to a truth that will never ever change. SOMETIMES it is so easy to twist truth to make others feel better. There is a funny joke told about a priest who conducted a bible study each week at the church. One day he said to his students, “Next week I plan to talk about the sin of lying. To help you understand what I will be speaking about, I want you all to read the gospel of Mark, Chapter 17.” The following week, as he prepared to begin the study, he wanted to know how many had read Chapter 17 by a show of hands. Every hand went up. The priest smiled wisely and said, “The Gospel of Mark has only sixteen Chapters. I will now proceed with tonight's bible study on the sin of lying." WE all know Christ used stories
called parables to illustrate His points. However,
He did not use a parable to hide the truth but rather to put His laws forward in ordinary
human terms. He used a solid basis of truth at
its foundation. Because
He used everyday happenings, He caught the attention of His
listeners and told a message within a message that left His
listeners pondering over what He said. Through His parables, we are
able to understand what He meant us to learn but He
did not hide His strong and vital lessons under the guise of pretty pictures. He told it like it was, like it is, and always will
be. THIS truth differs from the pseudo
truth of sin dressed in finery. Truth can
never be bent if it concerns our faith in God. The
alternatives to truth add up to a numbness of mind after a time and then we cannot
differentiate so readily what is wrong and what is right.
We begin to see only the surface, never taking the time to study what is
underneath its cover. AS Christians you and I have a built in sin alarm. If something comes my way and it constitutes a sin
my conscience, the Holy Spirit, puts it in perspective for me. My sin alarm strips away the attractive
veneer and lets me see there is something else beneath the exterior. Whether I heed this is my choice. If I look over the things I have done, issues that
I allowed to go past me without comment, actions that I knew were wrong, I know I have
sinned because that alarm that God built within me sounded loud and clear and I simply
ignored it and went my own way and did what I wanted. JUST as we are very conscious of the food
we eat, checking labels for fat, calories, and sugar content, so we must be aware of how
we allow other things into our thinking, checking our acceptance of circumstances and
matters that may little by little change our way of life.
Instead of mindlessly soaking up the tons of things coming at us, and the
lifestyles that eat away at our belief in God and His teachings, we must use a discerning
eye to see the reality of what they are without the disguises society puts upon them. IF I sin, I hang my head in abject shame. I become afraid to even contemplate God or Heaven
because I know I have done something very wrong. I
cannot even look up to an imaginary location of Heaven because that shame is so intense I
feel as if I have betrayed Christ Who believes in me, Who has blessed me, extended me His
mercy and all the good things He has provided, including dying for me. Romans 2:15 tells me that my conscience bears
witness to my sins and stands out as a glaring accusation against me. We are all in jeopardy with each day we face. The consequences of not paying attention to our
actions could be costly with no recovery. Mathew
7:13-14 tells us “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way
that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way
which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” IT is not as difficult as we sometimes think to live a
good life. Once we get on course we will find
ourselves immune to the things that tempt us because our focus will change as we become
strong in our faith. We are as new people with
a guide Who protects us by giving fair warning signals via this Holy Spirit He gave as He
returned to His Father. My eternal life hangs
in the balance over any decision that I will make, so I must think carefully before I act. I must not delay.
I cannot put off thinking about it till tomorrow or some other day, because
another day may not come for me. THOSE who do not know the Lord in a
personal relationship are not always the happy beings life paints them to be. When things go haywire in their lives, and if they
have money, they can live in the fast lane should they choose, fill the hours with the
noise of people and things, remaining untouched by the reality that they are trying to
appease an empty place only God can satisfy. In
an
attempt to fill this void deep within us we may choose actions and situations to fill
this. It is because we are searching for the
sacred; a quest for inner peace and meaning for life. It is
like a wound that can never heal for only the blood of the Son of
God can soothe and make it
whole again. To be blunt, we are here for only
one reason; to secure our passage to eternity and on some level in our hearts we know
this. THERE is no getting around it. We must dedicate our lives to the Heavenly Father
who created us. We must accept whatever He
chooses to place in our care and accept whatever burdens He gives us to carry. We must work to gain souls for that Kingdom He
promised to His faithful. Yes, it will be hard, for Satan is a crafty devil; he is
deceptive, cunning, and uses all his vast talents to get to us. He does not want us to look to God’s laws
because he wants your soul for his hell and damnation.
So many people succumb to his wiles and forget the narrow path we must take
to God’s eternity. If we prefer to ignore
truth, Satan is constantly pointing out that God really doesn’t care about us. But the truth is, Satan is a loser who does not
want us working for Christ. He does not want
you to reach your spiritual heights and he does not want you to believe there is a power
higher than his. He will give any distraction
to keep you away from the goodness, grace and the TRUTH of Jesus Christ. He wants you to ignore this for fantasy, make
believe and the now of earthly life. WE must surrender ourselves into the hands of our Savior. Only He can rub the balm of peace and courage on our aching souls, only He can quietly show us how to find the solace we need. Only He can walk down those rocky roads with us, and when we stumble and fall He will be right there to pick us up. We don’t need the bustle of sin covered over with beckoning gilt, brass and flashing lights. To tell it like it is, we only need to surrender our lives into the loving hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we live a life guided by Him, we can then say, “I have finished the work You have given me Lord, and I am waiting for you, whenever You are ready, to take me home.
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