“Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, ‘You are truly My disciples if you remain faithful to My teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32 NLT)
What is true and what is truth can be two separate things. Something can be true, but not be rooted in truth. Or something can be true even though it seems to defy logic. For example, it doesn’t make sense to the rational mind that a young woman can become pregnant without having sex with a man, at least it didn’t make sense in the first century when Mary became pregnant with Jesus.
Or it doesn’t make sense humanly speaking that a human being can defy gravity and walk on water or ascend into the sky unassisted, but Jesus did those things. Do you see any connection between those things and the fact that Jesus was and is the embodiment of all Truth? Might Jesus have been challenging our mind and heart to believe He is capable of anything given the right circumstance?
But very often the challenge isn’t to believe He can, but that He will! We cannot assume that because something is rooted in truth that it will always lead to what may logically be true. For example, I have Alzheimer’s. The truth is that God can heal me of that disease. Believing that truth may lead me to believe He WILL heal me, but is that true?
Some have the belief that they are one and the same, to believe He heals is to assume He always wants to heal, but I don’t believe that’s what the Bible teaches. In my understanding the Bible teaches that it’s God’s will for us to have wholeness, completeness in Jesus that isn’t dependent upon physical healing or physical wholeness.
My wholeness is found in my relationship with the Lord of Creation. I have everything I need in Him, whether or not I have a physical ailment. The truth is that the Lord’s life and love have been amplified and magnified to me through my illness. I see Him more clearly, am walking with Him more nearly, and love Him more dearly for the revelation of Himself He’s given me through my illness.
Are those things true only because of the illness or could they have come in another way? Of course they could have, but that’s not the point. The point is I DO have the illness, and He has chosen to redeem its negative effects by blessing me in spite of it. That certainly doesn’t mean you have to become sick in order for Him to become real to you. That’s absurd.
He wants us to know Him from the moment of our conception, to grow to love, worship, and serve Him with our whole body, mind, and spirit for all of our lives, but, unfortunately, that rarely happens. Too often life’s experiences reveal Him to us in ways we may never have seen Him otherwise.
This relates to what John Stonestreet shared in a Breakpoint article when he wrote: “Following St. Augustine, Grosseteste argued that we only know truth through illumination. Just as we cannot see a body unless it has light shining on it, the mind cannot comprehend truth unless the divine light of the logos, Jesus Christ, illuminates it. Thus, all knowledge, for Christian and non-Christian alike, is mediated by Christ.”
The Lord, in His wisdom, will use whatever is going on in our lives to reveal Himself, to “illuminate” Himself in a way that will help us see Him as Truth and learn to desire a relationship with Him. While we can know many things are true, the only way to know Truth is to know Jesus.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 
Over the last 3 years I suffered through two life threatening illnesses, one of them being pancreatic cancer, and the other time from a chronic DVT blood clot in the Iliac vein in my leg and abdomen for seven and a half months, which I could easily have died at any moment from a pulmonary embolism in my lungs. Both times myself and many others were praying for my healing, and both times God healed me, yes even from pancreatic cancer. God allowed these illnesses to attack me, and through it I grew even stronger in my faith in Jesus as my Lord. And God also allowed me to be healed both times by sending me to the right doctors in His timing. And both times my healings drew me ever closer to my Lord Jesus, and my faith, love and hope in my Lord grew exponentially each time through the healings. I could have grown bitter, or angry, or full of hate, but Jesus used this as a time for me to grow as one of His followers. Jesus could have allowed me to die from both of these two illnesses, but He chose healing for me. For others he allows them to grow stronger in faith, love, and hope, and if they didn’t already know Jesus as Savior, he may lead them to receive His salvation as they grow closer to death, then He calls them home. Most likely my future will include more suffering and pain, before He finally calls me home for the rest of eternity. Steve Boyle
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