What Is Truth?

By Phil Wood

Scripture:  John 18:37-38, John 14:6, Isaiah 45:19, John 8:31-32

My friend who asks hard questions wants to know, "What is truth?" I've spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this lately.

When Pontius Pilate asked that question, he was dealing with much the same situation we're dealing with today: people ignoring the truth; people spinning the truth, people creating and disseminating their own "truth" to protect themselves and their own little kingdoms.

It's no wonder my friend is confused. In this current age of fake news, as it was then, we sometimes get to see only the part of the truth that somebody else wants us to see. Or we hear a "truth" that is totally made up, but repeated so often that everybody believes it's the truth.

In this scenario, as with the pharisees, it would seem that certain powerful people are above the law. In today's language, the truth of their actions is "redacted" and there is no prosecution.

Others, who have committed no crime, are "tried" in the court of public opinion with no consequences for libel or the misrepresentation of truth. Crucify! Crucify!

What is truth?

I picture Pilate asking that question with a bit of a sneer on his face. He found no basis for a charge against Jesus. That was the truth!  But it didn't matter. The lies had already been spread.

The truth was right there for all to see. But it didn't fit the narrative, it didn't further the cause. It didn't help prove that somebody was right and somebody else was wrong.

The way I see it, there are two kinds of truth: God's truth; and the world's truth. What actually is, and what people say it is. And God has given us a way to distinguish between the two.

Those of us who love Jesus and keep his commands have been given an advocate to help us and to be with us – the Spirit of Truth. "The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and is with you."

The truth is not a thing. It's a person. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Jesus is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Jesus tells it like it is. Not how the world says it is.

When we see or hear something that doesn't match up, deep inside where the Spirit of Truth resides, we know it. We can tell if it's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If it's a partial truth or an out-and-out lie, we can smell it. And we can avoid being deceived.

Of course, this can't happen if we're not listening to the Spirit. If we only hear what we want to hear, it's a whole different story.

Father, you are The Great I Am. You are what is. You are light. You are love. You are truth in its very purest form. Help us to see you for who you are, and to see the world for what it is. And may the truth set us free. In the name of your son, the perfect and true representation of you, Jesus the Christ, amen.

Good Friday

By Phil Wood

Scripture: Psalm 23

Today, Good Friday 2019, marks my second full year of life since the night my heart stopped. It was sudden, out of nowhere – no warning, no pain. I lay down for a minute before heading to the Good Friday service at church and, when I lifted my head back up, everything was swirling.

There's a gadget in my chest now that takes over whenever my heart tries to pull those shenanigans but, for me, there's no longer any getting around the truth that any given moment could be my last. I'm not conscious of this 100 percent of the time, but darn close.

This may sound like a terrible way to live but, actually, it's not. It's the best way to live. Every moment is a gift to be cherished.

Recently I came across a quote from a man named Pedro Arrupe, a Basque missionary who happened to be in Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Years later he had a series of strokes and wrote this in his journal:

"More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life, from my youth. But now there is a difference. The initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself to be totally in God's hands."

And so I find myself, not walking in fear, but walking in faith. God and I have a deal: as long as he keeps sustaining me, I keep walking and trusting and pouring myself out. It's that simple, and that beautiful.

For many, it takes a lifetime of baby steps (with lots of backsliding) to even approach such a level of trust and surrender. For some it takes an atomic bomb and a series of strokes. For me it took a frightening stoppage of the heart. And I still forget frequently!

But as my new favorite writer, Anne Lamott, once wrote, "To have prayed to know God's care firsthand, without mediation, and to give thanks for the gift...to know that God's maternal hands hold one's life, like a baby...that is so not me, and is really all that I want."

Amen

It's All About Me

By Phil Wood

Scripture: Mark 11:15-17

One of the big Aha Moments I've had over my years studying Scripture is that, basically, the entire Bible is about me. Well, it's about God, and Jesus, but after that it's about me. Now, before you start with, "Oh boy, here we go again, it's all about Phil, everything is always about Phil, now even the whole Bible is about Phil," consider this.

I believe the entire Bible is also about you. Whether it's telling a story about millions of Jews in the desert, or about any of the singular biblical characters who populate its pages, or about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, himself, the story is a message from God about whoever may be reading it. In your case, that would be you. In my case, that would be me.

Jerusalem is me. The wall of Jerusalem is my body. The temple is my heart. The whole Bible, from beginning to end, is the story of God and the relationship he wants to have with me. Like the Jews, I keep turning my back and wandering away. He keeps calling me, drawing me back. He keeps trying to show the Israelites how important it is that he be at the very center of the loving community he's trying to build. He keeps trying to show me how important it is to keep him at the very center of my being. 

Now, whenever I open my Bible, I stop and reflect for a few moments before starting to read. I need to be still, and know the great I Am is about to speak directly to me about something in me that I, personally, need to think about. This has made a huge difference in the way I read the Bible.

This morning I read the passage from Mark 11 about Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers and driving folks out of the temple who were buying and selling there. "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?'" Jesus asked. "But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

In my former days I thought this was a story about the righteous anger of Jesus and how wicked it is to do unholy things in the place that has been designated for prayer and communion with the Holy of Holies. But this morning I remembered the temple is my heart.

O, my God! I have allowed so many unholy distractions to clutter my heart, day in and day out. Politics. Worldly desires. Social media ramblings. And on and on and on. Father, overturn the tables and benches, drive out the buyers and sellers of distraction and the robbers of my soul. Make my heart a place of prayer as you have always intended. Make my heart a place of communion with you. In Jesus name, amen.

The Demon of Doubt

By Phil Wood

Scripture: Mark 9:14-29, Matthew 17:14-20

I have a friend who asks hard questions. "How can I give myself," he asks, "how can I surrender myself to Jesus when I can't see him and I can't hear him?"

I think my friend is a believer and what I think he's saying when he asks these questions is, "Help my unbelief!"

When Jesus heard a man express this prayer, "Help my unbelief," he ordered an evil spirit to come out of the man's son, and with a shriek it did. That man saw Jesus in the flesh. He experienced the healing of his son before his very eyes. He witnessed the end of a problem that had been tearing him apart for years. I'm going to surmise the man went home that day no longer struggling with unbelief.

But what about my friend?

Later, the disciples asked Jesus, "Why couldn't we drive the demon out? In Mark's version of the story, Jesus answered simply, "This kind can come out only by prayer." In Matthew's version of the story, Jesus' answer was a bit different. "Because you have so little faith," he said.

The man whose son was healed had also demonstrated a lack of faith saying, "If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." When Jesus called him out on that lack of faith, the man (unlike the disciples) immediately recognized how small his faith was, and prayed for help: "I do believe; help my unbelief!"

Jesus answered that prayer immediately. In an instant, he not only healed the boy, he healed the father. 

I know my friend has to pray this prayer for himself, and I hope he does, over and over. In the meantime, I'm praying it for him, and for myself, and for all who are occasionally possessed by demons of doubt:

Lord, help our unbelief! Help us recognize when our faith is shallow and to pray for help immediately. Cast out the demon of doubt. Give us eyes to see, and ears to hear your amazing response. Amen.

P.S. Isn't it great to know you're praying for something that you know for sure is in the Father's will?