We live in an era where much of humanity has abandoned objective truth. The current idea is whatever a person thinks is true is true for them. Obviously, this cannot apply to the visible realm — if my house is on fire, denial will not change anything, but when it comes to that which cannot be seen, then human supposing becomes reality for those who decide it is true.
Faith might seem like that. I believe in God and in Jesus Christ so that makes them real for me. However, it is not my faith that makes them real. Faith is based on God making Himself known. He opened my spiritual eyes so I know and experience Him.
The other kind of believing that makes things ‘true for me’ does not work like that. It is more like that idea of the power of positive thinking. I recall my father reading that book and liking it, until I said to him, “No matter how positive I might think, I’ll never be an opera singer.” He heard me sing and he knew there was no hope of me thinking myself into being a diva. He threw the book in the garbage.
The problem with abandoning God as the source of truth (which is why relativism is so popular) is that there is no other source, only what humans believe or want to believe. This ties nicely to the biblical definition of sin that says we all “go our own way” rather than trusting the Lord.
God is polite. As much as I want Him to drop a bomb on relativism, He allows human choices, partly to show us the folly of those ways that seem right to us but end in disaster, and partly that sin is a stubborn thing and sometimes resists even logic. In our current life, mistakes are made, seldom admitted, and we pay the price of any notion that we understand more and better than our Creator does, even to the point that deciding He does not exist.
There is a conclusion to all this. As today’s devotional says, everyone receives an eternal inheritance. It is based on what is believed and acted on in this life.
Jesus spoke of separating His sheep from those He called goats. He would say to the goats: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels . . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46)
Only those who belong to Him (called His sheep) have eternal life and a royal inheritance. When anyone receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they become a new creation in Christ and life begins to center on Him rather than self. The Holy Spirit begins to transform attitudes and actions and His people begin to focus on God’s glory rather than worldly pleasures or goals.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9–11)
Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:10–12)
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Relativism is a ‘hope so’ belief system, but faith in Christ is ‘know so’ because “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:16) This assurance is a powerful testimony; we have not been deluded. Trusting in the living Lord gives confidence of His presence, power, and all that we have because of His promises. This is why Jesus says:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)
PRAY: Lord, You know my concerns for family and friends who don’t know You. My prayer is that You will redeem them and be glorified as they become part of Your family with assurance that You are the way, the truth, and the life, rather than themselves and their ideas becoming all that they know to live by.
PONDER: Romans 1:19-31 describes the slippery slope of unbelief. Use this to understand where loved ones are on that slope and how I can pray for them.
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