As of late, my wife, Tia has urged me to go walking with her anywhere from 2 to 5 miles pretty much every day. I like exercise but primarily that of a competitive nature. I'm not a huge fan of walking in my neighborhood which has a killer hill that Tia insists we walk up and down at least twice per session. Usually, these sessions begin with 10 to 15 minutes of constant complaining by me about my aching back or sharp headache or why I just want to sit on the computer to type blogs like this. However, a bi-product of these walks is that it stirs my mind to think, usually about theological type things which generally consists of me spewing out words and thoughts and opinions on all kinds of subjects as I chew Tia's ear off with my external processing. Afterward, I am always blessed by those walks as it brings to light a lot of things that normally have a hard time making their way from my brain to my tongue. This is one of the subjects that came to verbalization:
Over the last few years Tia and I have been doing a lot of soul searching, contemplating, wrestling, utterly failing and celebrating victory in our search for truth and where our journey as people who want to follow Christ will take us. As we've tested many of the "truths" we've encountered in life, throwing away that which didn't seem to line up with the Spirit of God and clinging to the "truths" that bring to life the name of Jesus we have found that the truths that once seemed as readily available as the air we breath had become more like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
According to Merriam-Webster, truth is defined as "the state of being the case" or "being in accord with fact or reality." By definition, every day, every situation we are in, every being, every thing we can observe or that exists is the truth. Even a lie! The fact that there is any lie is the truth. But is that where the truth ends? Is everything around us true? Maybe, but it's not until we dig deeper into those things do we find what the greater truth is. Truth is not relative(what is true for you may not be true for me), but it is found only to those who seek it.
Is the truth laid before us like a dinner feast fully prepared that makes our mouths water and appeals to all of our senses with servants ready to feed us until we are content? Or is it a carrot on a string held before us that swings toward and away from us as we trudge forward eagerly wanting to get ever closer but only getting a quick nibble, always before us but requiring much labor(searching) just to get whatever nourishment we can.
My opinion has changed from the former to the later for a few reasons. One, is that in the pursuit of truth, truth can be found. Is it really at the other end of the tunnel or is it the trek through the tunnel that helps us find it? Peter Rollins, a man who's perspective I've recently come to enjoy, states "God is not the patch of meaning on the wound...God is the wound we put our patch of meaning upon." To paraphrase, God doesn't quench our thirst for truth but is the thirst which makes us need water(or His truth). Truth is not bought at the market but is labored for in the fields. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one can go to the Father except through me." Just for a moment those words spoke differently to me, "I am the way to truth in this life, no one knows the truth found in my Father except if he becomes like me." Yeah, I know he didn't say it quite like that but as I chewed on what it is to know the truth or rather find the truth, these words took on a new meaning. How can we find truth in this life? It is found in not doing things FOR Jesus but BEING LIKE Jesus.
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