How to Find Truth

Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh...." (John 8:14-15)

It seems to me that there is a significant clue here to one of the principles of true reality. There is much discussion about what is truth and a lot of that discussion revolves around what are provable, factual concepts. But in the heavenly reality which is generally foreign to all except those who are being initiated and transformed into that reality through salvation, truth is defined in very different terms. And what I see in these verses is along that line.

I have noticed that many things Jesus said while here on earth seemed to be from a very different frame of reference. Jesus seemed so aware of that other reality and appeared to live so thoroughly in that reality while almost only visiting the reality we perceive that much of what He said to us used language more from that reality than ours. This has led us to make many presumptions about things He said that can be very confusing because we often do not take into account or are even aware of the context of the reality from which He was speaking. Indeed, Paul said that spiritual things can only be spiritually discerned by people who have received the Spirit of God in their hearts. Jesus made it plain to Nicodemus that it would be impossible for him to even understand what Jesus was talking about regarding the kingdom of heaven until he was born again.

What I noticed in this verse was the link between Jesus' statement that His testimony was true and His perspective of His own mission and connection with heaven. He seemed to imply rather strongly here that truth has to be viewed in the context of being aware of who and what Jesus Himself was all about, it is not about knowing a set of rules or doctrines or provable facts. Additionally, Jesus was not defining truth as each of us knowing who we are or where we came from and are going to, but truth is always relative to knowing where Jesus came from and where He is headed.

The last phrase in this quote seems to me to be a rather explicit statement about the two views of reality. Jesus states that people here in what we think is reality tend to judge or evaluate things based on what Jesus calls the flesh. Paul expands this a great deal more and contrasts living in the flesh verses living in the Spirit. This theme is particularly flushed out throughout the New Testament and in my understanding these are labels for the two very different realities in which each of us can choose to live.

Typical religion is an attempt to live out the results of living in the Spirit while failing to actually allow God's Spirit to dwell inside of us to produce those results. We try to focus on all the descriptions we find in the Bible of what a Christian should look like and then set about to shape our lives to conform to those descriptions. But truly following Jesus is not about imitating Him externally but coming into a totally dependent, trusting, mutually loving relationship with God just as Jesus demonstrated while He lived here on this earth. To do that we must have the same Spirit dwelling inside of us just as Jesus had that same Spirit dwelling in Him while living in total dependence and submission to His Father each moment.

Just because we may be expert in religious topics or seem to be getting our act together quite nicely and have developed a good reputation with those around us as being a good person, does not in any way make us a person who is filled with truth. Jesus stated quite plainly that He Himself was the truth. To think that knowing facts or holding a certain set of religious beliefs aligns us with the truth is one of the greatest deceptions we can come under. And trying to figure out where we have come from or where we are going instead of knowing those things deep in our heart about Jesus is also a diversion from entering into real truth. Truth is not so much about having an accurate knowledge of facts or belief systems but is living in harmony with the persons who make up the godhead and who provides all things for everyone, even existence itself.

When I allow God's Spirit to have its way in me to align me properly with that other reality which is only dimly perceived by me at this point, I begin to experience truth in a whole new dimension and begin to feel the life of God changing me from the inside out. It seems that the more I learn about this other reality, these principles of real truth and how perfectly they all fit together, I find myself in much more sympathy with David when he kept talking about wanting to know more of God's precepts and how much he loved them. I used to be very baffled when I read those things in the Psalms, but now I find myself saying the same things spontaneously to God as the Spirit brings new insights to my attention throughout the day.

Jesus, help me to better know You, to know where You really came from and where You are are going so that I can enjoy living in the truth as You want me to.

Go and Sin No More

...And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." (John 8:11-12)

This story of the woman forgiven by Jesus is one of the most powerful stories in the world to reveal the real truth about how God treats sinners. And yet all of my life the impact of this story has been seriously blunted by those who seemed to want to minimize God's graciousness and put extra emphasis on obedience. But our real problem is not our need for more obedience itself but is the form or method of obedience promoted by those who believe that God is in the helping business rather than the saving business.

For most of my life, every time I came across announcements of the good news in the Bible it was neutralized by something of this nature that would create so much fear in my heart that the gospel would lose all its power for me. Satan was so subtle to use religious beliefs and teachings to steal away the very things that could have empowered me to escape from the lies about God that had kept me in bondage. I see these lies abounding both on the left and on the right and it has taken most of my life to come to discern the real good news that God has been seeking to present to me as it is in Jesus.

When I would read this phrase, go and sin no more, all the daunting efforts required to stop sinning would rise up so preponderantly inside my mind that I would be ready to give up in hopeless despair as soon as I was done reading this story. All I could imagine was that this woman was being instructed to go and try even harder to quit sinning in appreciation from getting off the hook from being stoned. It was taught to me that somehow the gratitude she must have felt from being rescued from stoning was supposed to motivate enough her to resist sin in order to satisfy this demand of Jesus for her to quit her life of sin altogether. Translating that into my own experience I felt that this story was just another ploy by religion to entice me (or compel me) to try and figure out once again how to access God's power to help my efforts to overcome sin.

Overcoming sin was the main theme of the people I grew up around and who had the greatest influence in my development. Again, I am certainly all for becoming overcomers, but how that is arrived at is the issue that has created more confusion and heated arguments and debates over the years than almost anything else I can think of in my experience. For the very same verses that one side insists defends their position are sometimes used by the other side to present something completely different.

Wonderfully I have been the recipient of gracious revelations from God over the past few years that have opened my understanding in a very different direction from what I perceived growing up. The misery of soul that I experienced most of my life attempting to overcome sin by working harder with God's help became such a mountain of discouragement for me that I was compelled to wonder if there just might be a better way to overcome. If overcoming required all the hard work, the anxiety, the constant search for just the right formulas and living in constant fear of offending God while never enjoying real assurance, then it was just too much to endure. In fact, it was on the heels of this personal search for a better answer that brought me to this study in the book of John to discover for myself what saving belief really looks and feels like. And I have not been disappointed.

As I read the two verses above the last couple of mornings with a better context of a clearer picture of God as my backdrop, many things that used to greatly trouble me now actually serve as reinforcements for assurance of God's love and grace for me. And part of the problem I have discovered about my previous way of looking at Scriptures was the segmentation that is so often used in reading just selected portions to prove some doctrine or teaching. Now as I allow passages to flow together and to integrate and interpret themselves more fluidly, much more is coming into the open that is refreshing and life-giving for me. The same is very true in this story.

When Jesus instructed this woman to go and sin no more, I suspect that she might have had some of the same feelings initially as I have experienced upon hearing those words. She may have been very thankful certainly for having her life saved, but gratitude for one incident alone is not enough power to keep one from all sin when life is going wrong again and temptation blinds you emotionally. There has to be something far more effective than simply being rescued from death one time, as powerful as that may be; there has to be a power that is ever-present and accessible in the life that can keep one's focus in a different direction when temptations assert their influence on the soul.

As is often the case, the answer is found very close by in Scripture if one ignores the artificial separations that have been put into place. Whether it be chapter breaks, verse divisions or story transitions, too often we miss the most powerful truths by stopping where we think the thought has ended. In this case that is also true, for in the very next verse Jesus reveals both to this woman and to anyone else willing to listen the real method for overcoming sin in our lives. It is by following Him and all that that implies in seeking to have an intimate relationship with Him.

Again, the idea of following Jesus used to mean I had to simply emulate His example of living a perfect life with help from God like I thought Jesus did while here on earth. But now I have come to see that Jesus did not come to show us how to live a life of perfect behavior with God's help, but He came to show us that living in intimate relationship and total dependence on an outside power above Him was the only way we could be brought back into a right relationship of trust with our Creator.

Instead of focusing on reforming my behavior and trying to get my external act together in order to look like a good Christian, I am coming to realize that all my external changes must flow from a transformed heart which in turn will only happen as the natural result of living in relationship with a different Friend. True transformation is not something put on or forced in from the outside like I have spent far too much of my life attempting to do, transformation must simply be the natural outworking of living in relationship with the only Source of life which renews my mind (Romans 12:2). Heart transformation happens when I come to perceive what God is really like, how gracious and forgiving and loving and merciful and beautiful His character is like. As I follow Him the way people follow their favorite movie stars or pop idols and try to learn everything possible about Him in every respect, my own life and spirit and attitudes and disposition will begin to morph into acting and thinking and relating to others like He does. And that is exactly what Jesus was relaying to this woman right after He saved her from her accusers.

Caught in the Very Act

They said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act." (John 8:4)

Indeed, she was caught in the very act of sinning. How interesting. The imagination begins to wonder just how the men involved here accomplished this feat. How were they able to 'discover' her in the very act of having sex with someone without having inside information on when and where it was going to take place. And why the glaring absence of the man involved in that act? The punishments in the laws of Moses equally applied to the man in adultery, but there seemed to be no interest in carrying out the punishment against the man involved in this case.

But wait! That was not the only sin going on in this story. It just happens to be one of the sins that has been most popular to point out throughout history. Somehow the sexual sins of women and sometimes the men they involve seems to be the most titillating topics of discussion, particularly among religious people. But is our prioritization of sins really the right way to evaluate the guilt induced by sin in the life? As I look at how the Bible lists sins that will keep people from living in heaven, I find some other sins listed that seem in our way of thinking to be very slight by comparison. But are they really less sinful or are they just so acceptable and common that we don't feel guilty about them?

Take for instance, what does the word ungodliness mean? I suppose the obvious meaning is that it refers to anything that is unlike God. Ungodliness is a word commonly used in the Bible to refer to sin. And I think that may possibly be the very best definition of sin that might be found. God is the perfect example of how to live in total harmony, love and selfless service to others. Jesus came to reveal that way of living more clearly, both to us and to all the watching universe. To harbor attitudes other than what God has revealed in the example of Jesus is to live in sin.

Along this line my attention is drawn to John 3:16, 17 where I catch a glimpse into the very heart of the Father and how He feels toward sinners. God so loves the world that He gave. But not only that, the very next verse declares that He does not condemn. This second part comes as quite a shock to many religious people who claim to worship and believe in God while depending heavily on condemnation to control and intimidate others into compliance with their rules and social standards. But if God's word clearly states that God does not condemn while at the same time religious people use condemnation as a primary tool for enforcing what they believe to be God's will, then condemning people would certainly seem to qualify as ungodliness, something unlike what God is like. And remember, all ungodliness is sin.

These men who were so intent on heaping condemnation on this woman, and by extension on Jesus Himself, were undoubtedly desiring to use this situation as a means of furthering their idea of serving God. But in doing so they were openly and publicly acting ungodly, for God does not use condemnation to get His way. Therefore, it seems to me that this woman was not the only one being caught in the very act of sinning. These men by their very words, actions and attitudes were sinning far more blatantly and openly than this woman had probably ever dreamed of doing in her sexual encounters. In reality these men too were being caught in the very act of sinning while they were accusing this woman of being guilty of what they considered a more offensive sin in the sight of God.

Now here is the real kicker. Jesus came to reveal to the onlooking universe as well as to men how God treats sinners and feels about them. It is amazing enough to consider the compassionate way in which He dealt with this woman. But even more amazing is the kindness and dignity He displayed in dealing with the blatant, harsh, public sins which these accusers were committing right there in front of everyone. They were being caught in the very act themselves while oblivious to the fact they were even sinning at all, yet Jesus treated them with the very same delicate politeness and compassion that He used in protecting this woman from further shame and humiliation.

This is a lesson I am very slow to learn. It is one thing to avoid falling into the supposedly gross kinds of sins that society tends to view with disgust, shame or condemnation. But it is a very different thing to relate to the more acceptable forms of sin like condemnation, hypocrisy, pride and selfishness with the same compassion and kindness that is consistent with the character of God. Because many of these sins are ones that I get caught up in myself but are not so reprehensible to those around me, it is much harder for me to treat people who attack and accuse me with the compassion of Jesus instead of reacting with defensiveness. It is always the sins that reflect our own weaknesses that arouses the most intense reactions inside of us when we encounter them in others. Thus it sometimes seems hard to accept that God will deal with those sins with equal compassion and dignity as He does with some of the more 'obvious' sins like we see in this story.

The more honest I become about what lurks in my own heart, the more appalled I am at the wickedness that lies latent inside of me and my own potential for evil. But at the same time, as I come to know the real truth about the God of kindness, compassion, love and tenderness, I realize that my only hope is in coming directly to Him openly and honestly with all of these horrible revelations of what is inside of me instead of trying to deny their existence or repress them deeper. I will never clean myself up enough to impress God with my godliness. I can only keep coming to Him to get more and more acquainted with the beauty of His perfection even though it may make me very uncomfortable, and then allow those revelations of purity to have their effect at the deepest levels of my soul.

Transformation only comes about by continued exposure. What I dwell on in my mind and thoughts has a powerful effect to transform me deep in my subconsciousness where I have no direct access. Sin is much deeper than the actions and words I might be able to manage on the outside. It has to do with the deep roots of alienation deep inside that only God can address and repair. And I am learning that the only hope I have of being delivered from sin is to learn and focus more on the truth about God, the goodness of God, the compassion and love and perfection of God until that exposure permeates all throughout my thinking and feelings and affects all of my relationships. This is the method that heaven uses to transform sinners into saints. And this is the only method that will work if I am to cooperate with heaven in attracting others to respond to the grace and love of God for their salvation too.