Comically, every time I say, “Tell me the truth,” I hear the voice of Jack Nicholson echo, “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH! As he reluctantly exclaimed on the jury stand in the movie “A Few Good Men”. He couldn’t tell the truth because he thought the Truth was too difficult to comprehend.
I remember the young men in my youth group planning to get up early on a Saturday morning and hitting the NYC subway system with tracks and free Bibles to venture out and spread the “Good News”(Mark 16:15). When I was in my early 20’s, evangelizing was always an uncomfortable feat. I couldn’t handle the truth.
On top of being insecure because of my big nose and acne scars, I was born introverted and melancholy. Speaking to anyone, about anything brought on butterflies in my stomach and the only way I could explain the things of God was comparing it to the Force and Dark Side from Star Wars.
The truth is, back then, there was a time when I questioned my own beliefs. To be blatantly honest, the need for Jesus dying on a cross, human blood shed to forgive sins, and the mandate to accept the Son of God or be eternally doomed seemed ghastly. I have yet to see The Passion of the Christ.
I remember driving on the belt parkway and holding the very Bible I have today outside of the window while telling God, “If you don’t prove to me that you are real, and this whole idea of Jesus being your Son and having to die on the cross for me is true so that I can have eternal life, I will throw this Bible away forever”.
Deep down inside, although I grew up in the church and felt I was acting like a disrespectful child, I had to find out the truth for myself.
I was at an age where a person stops being taught what other people want them to learn and begins to learn what they themselves want to know. People would kill for their beliefs, countries would war for their beliefs. I wanted to be passionate about my beliefs.
Because it is God’s desire that no one should perish (2 Peter 3:9), He was willing to work with me. Jesus promised in John 14:26 “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
I learned many things about God and The Truth that I gained imparted a permanent passion for my beliefs. The Holy Spirit began teaching me and showing me things that were unknown to me. Never again would I question my faith. I learned The Truth and began walking with the Lord.
The Truth is: there is only one truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I AM the way and The Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Yet many people believe there are other ways to get to heaven. They believe being good will get them into heaven. This is not truth (Eph 2:9). Aside from Christian beliefs, Got Questions (www.GotQuestions.org) states, “Most believe that hard work and wisdom will lead to ultimate fulfillment, whether that is unity with god (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Baha’i) or freedom and independence (Scientology, Jainism). Others, like Unitarianism and Wicca, teach the afterlife is whatever you want it to be, and salvation is a non-issue because the sin nature doesn’t exist.
A few believe either the afterlife doesn’t exist or it’s too unknowable to consider.” Sadly, just because you believe in something doesn’t make it true. Jesus himself said in Matthew 10:33, “whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Then what? It’s too late.
For many years I have been dedicated to following Jesus. I pray, I believe I know the voice of the Lord (John 10:27), I strive to keep his commandments (1John 5:3) and run the good race (2 Tim 4:7). What troubles me now is found in Matthew 7:21-23:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you”
Jesus was talking to religious people. People that believed they were doing the right thing and following God. They prayed, saw miracles, prophecies and deliverances. Yet, were far from walking with The Lord, they were far from The Truth. The Truth is, “we are saved by grace through faith; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephe. 2:8-9)
Nowadays, I no longer get butterflies in my stomach when spreading the Good News. I know, when I speak of The Truth, there is hope that someone will want to know the Truth, to experience the Truth, and begin walking with the Lord.
