With so much information coming our way on a daily basis on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email, and every other online medium, how can we even tell what is true and what is false? Why are we constantly so confused by the world around us and how we are supposed to be "in it" but not "of it"? In a short study this week, I pulled together the following verses that pointed me back to Jesus and His truth. The simple fact of the matter is that the worldly system, including my own fleshly opinions and desires, are constantly pulling me away from Jesus' truth to pursue my own false truth. Knowing this helps me to easily discern what is truth and what is a lie... that which draws me closer to Jesus and His commandments is truth. That which does the opposite, is a lie. I pray these few scriptures help remind you of that today...
TRUTH
“The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” (Psalm 119:160, ESV)
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17, ESV)
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, ESV)
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:6, ESV)
“Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.” (Psalm 141:5, ESV)
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18, ESV)
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” (Ephesians 4:11–15, ESV)
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV)
CONFUSION
“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,” (1 Corinthians 14:33, ESV)
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25 ESV)
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”” (Jeremiah 17:9–10, ESV)
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, ESV)