“YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH.”
By T.
Our Master gives the definite promise, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Nothing short of the real and definite truth itself can make men free. And, in view of this fact, how careful should we be to divest ourselves of all prejudice and hold our minds open for the reception of truth! The Lord sometimes uses very humble or unpretentious instruments so that we may see the truth as the all-important thing, rather than to become absorbed in the study or admiration of the vehicle through which it is communicated. In view of this fact we should not take it upon ourselves to prescribe the channels thru which we will allow truth to reach us; for if we do we may shut ourselves away from the choicest gems. God not only has the truth, but He also knows the best way of bringing it to us. Then the best thing for us is to let Him have His own way, and things will be just right. There are a great many who say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, just so you are honest in it.” There was never a more fatal mistake. The Saviour does not ask us to be honest in the belief of falsehood, but says we “shall know the truth.” Anything that a man knows is not something that he is in doubt about. He knows it. He is so sure of it that, while he remains true to himself and the truth, he would willingly surrender his life rather than give it up. The person who merely claims to have “sincere convictions,” and who thinks that it does not matter what they are “so he is honest,” does not in reality hold any real convictions at all. Such an one can not be a positive force for good in the world. His inaction may permit much evil, but so far as goodness is concerned his life is worse than a blank. When brought into a trying place he readily finds an excuse for giving up anything that he holds as mere “honest convictions.” He has not studied to know the truth and to follow it at all hazards. His “honest convictions” after all have only been excuses that have enabled him to stifle the pleadings of truth, while he followed his natural inclinations, regardless of right or wrong. The individual who has studied the truth until he has discovered its foundations knows what he is standing on. He has no quibblings about the right. He is not tossed by doubts and fears, but lives in the strength that definite knowledge gives. God’s Word comes to him, and he exercises his faith in believing it, and at the same time there is a definite knowledge that what he is believing is actually true. The Word is not a mere theory to him, but it is a burning, living reality. He reads the Word and knows that it is true. There is in it an inner life, a vitalizing power, that appeals to him, and tells him plainly of its divine origin. He reads the promises of God in His Word, and in his heart he says they are true. And believing God’s promises in this way, he finds them fulfilled to him day by day. They have become more than what men usually look upon as promises; they are the expression of a daily experience in the things of God. By all these experiences that come to the real Christian, he lives under the constant joy that “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; . . . whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” Job 19:25-27. The individual who is thus devotedly following the real truth as it is revealed by the Author of all truth, learns to recognize truth whenever he sees it. In a sense, truth becomes to him axiomatic. To state it to him clearly is to show it to him without the weariness of long-drawn and tedious arguments. He is realizing the fulfillment of the promise, “Ye shall know the truth.” God has left with every man that faculty of the divine mind that enables him to know truth when he sees or hears it. It is not the impossible task to arrive at the knowledge of definite truth that many would have us believe. When we are willing to dislodge every error, no matter how much we may have cherished it, and stand committed to the truth, no matter where it will lead us, we will find the truth, and know it when we see it. And not only will we know it, but we will know that we know it, for we will know the Author of truth, and know that it is He who is leading us, and that He can make no mistake. Do not be too quick to controvert any of these statements. Remember that the text at the head of this article says, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” It makes you free from error, wherein lies the only true freedom. When a child wants anything so much that his whole nature goes out toward the object, it is sometimes amusing to listen to the different “reasons” that he can assign as to why he should have the object of his desire, and have it right away. The fact that many of these “reasons” may be unreasonable and contradictory does not interfere with his ardor one bit. But you put him off a day or so, or let him in some way see something that will change his mind, and then he can argue just as strongly that he does not want the thing at all. You may call his attention to the arguments used a day or so previous, but these are all overshadowed by his intense desire to have his own way. You will say at once that a disposition like this in a child is something that must be educated out of him if he is ever to amount to anything in life. That is true. We must teach him earnestly and faithfully to choose only those things that are right and true and proper, regardless of whether they strike his fancy for the time being or not. And as you educate him in this way, he gradually sees that what is right also has the most enjoyment in it in the end. Then we should each one draw the conclusion that our warped and uneducated and unenlightened desires must not be allowed to guide us; for if we allow them they will always lead us to make plenty of excuses as to why we should do this or that wrong thing. We will even try to persuade ourselves that we are doing the right when we are really doing wrong, and when we are more than persuaded, too, that the thing we are doing is not for the best. Truth and not inclination must be our guide. And we should cling to the Saviour’s promise that we shall know the truth. And once the truth is known, not guessed at, what a solid rest and comfort it brings to the soul! Do you know the truth? If not it is your privilege to know it definitely and fully.