I AM Truth

I heard in a sermon that we shouldn't focus on thanking the Lord for WHAT He has done as much as we should thank Him for WHO He is. I really struggled with that statement for a long time.  We know the Lord is love because he loved us. He is Savior because He saved us. He is King because He is King of heaven and is coming back. You get the point...So many of the names and character attributes of God are in response to an action He has performed on the behalf of mankind. So how do you separate what He has done from who  He is?

This week, I have studied truth in regards to faith and have come to one solid conclusion: JESUS IS TRUTH. Truth that we understand as God's Word did not come before God was truth; God's Word was dependent on Jesus being truth before the foundation of the world. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."(John 1:1) In the beginning is before time began, before man existed, before we were God was and was the WORD which is TRUTH. Do you see the correlation? It's a little confusing but stay with me! "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."(John 1:14) Jesus was truth and is truth. The man who walked on water, turned water to wine, died on the cross, came back to life, and ascended to heaven is truth. We know truth because God is truth!

I think I understand better what my pastor was saying about praising God for who He is and not just what  He has done. Action follows character. God acts because it is an outpouring of His character. Whereas we tend to define the Lord by what He does for us, God is defined by embodying the characteristics of the actions He performs. We have it all wrong!

Our culture has done away with truth. In fact, we struggle to see the black and white in the midst of a situation that looks very gray. Absolute truth exists and it is Jesus Christ. The Lord makes it easier for us to discern the black and white. When we acknowledge that He is truth, then we have an inward understanding (Psalm 51:6) that truth comes from God (Psalm 40:11) and that those of us who claim Jesus as Savior know that truth draws us closer to Christ (Psalm 43:3), we daily walk in truth when we follow Jesus (Psalm 86:11) because God is abundant in truth (Psalm 86:15), and the Lord is close to those who call on Him in truth (Psalm 145:18). To break that down: believers in Christ following the Lord have the ability to discern truth because they are searching whole-heartedly to know and understand the One who is truth. The fuzzy, gray areas become clear in the light of the One who knows and is truth. He is the great I AM of Truth. Rest in that and follow Him! The path is peace and abundant understanding.

Seek the real deal, not an indiscernible imitation! "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)

Following the the great I AM of Truth,
Kariss