Read: Psalm 119:160; Isaiah 46:9-10; John 8:32; John 17:17
Sadly, the bedrock belief in absolute truth has been set aside by many people. It has been replaced with the notion that two or more views which stand in stark contrast to one another can both be viable. No wonder it is often challenging for those of us who belong to Jesus to share His very words found in John 14:6. There He says that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. That certainly is truth that can set us free, John 8:32. That is, if we let it transform our lives. That's the sweetness of truth. When acted upon and taken into our lives, truth can transform, and this week, I heard a story from history that brings that point home.
She was called Bett. Her slave name. She lived in Massachusetts, and she was born in 1746. She spent more than 30 years in the home of John Ashley who was a prominent judge, and she was a trusted nurse and midwife who was well known and respected. Yet, she was a slave who said that if she had been told that she could have one minute of freedom in exchange for her life, she would take that deal. That was how much she longed for freedom. In 1780, she heard the new Massachusetts constitution being read in the central square. One line stood out. "All men are born free and equal." Bett was enraged when she heard that, and she went to a well-known lawyer, Theodore Sedgwick. She said, “I heard that paper read yesterday, that says all men are born equal and that every man has a right to freedom,” she said, “I am not a dumb critter; won’t the law give me my freedom?” Indeed, that was exactly what happened. She sued the state of Massachusetts, and a jury of 12 white farmers agreed with her assertion. She received 30 shillings and was set free. She acted on that freedom by changing her name to Elizabeth Freeman and becoming a paid employee in the home of Theodore Sedgwick who said that she became a trusted part of his family. She knew the truth. She acted upon it. She was set free, and in 1790, there were no longer any slaves in Massachusetts.
How many lives were altered for the good because truth was heard and applied! Let's turn the corner and return to Jesus' words in John 14:6. They are beautifully bold, aren't they; in fact, the Bible doesn't hesitate or shrink back even a tiny bit when its Spirit-led authors in many places make the same claim, John 3:36; John 10:9; Acts 4:12;1 Timothy 2:5; Matthew 7:13. Often we hear people say that the Bible is merely the same as any other "religious book."; and they wonder why we trust its words written so many years ago. The Bible answers those questions. In Psalm 119:160, we are challenged with scripture's own words that we can wholly trust the sum and the individual truths of scripture. An amazing claim since there are 66 books which were written hundreds of years apart from each other by varied authors who most often didn't know one another.
If the Bible weren't God's Word to us, there would be no continuity and certainly no prophesies. Nothing surely would have been written that would have occurred hundreds of years after its author lived; however, God Almighty wanted us to know that we could trust Him; so, in Isaiah 46:9-10 He gave us this amazing truth:
Remember the things I have done in the past.
For I alone am God!
I am God, and there is none like me.
Only I can tell you the future
before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass,
for I do whatever I wish.
Only the One Who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords would dare to make that statement and prove it countless times when what He said came to pass. Only the God Who loves us cares enough to show us His trustworthiness so we will rest in Him, Matthew 11:28-30. Only the God Who wants us to be with Him for eternity would weep in sorrow when He was rejected by His own, Luke 19:41-44. Only the God proclaimed in the Bible offers us irrefutable truth that can set us free if we believe Jesus' words and allow Him to transform our lives, John 8:31-32. Yes, God's truth doesn't reform us. He transforms us.
Back to Elizabeth Freeman for a moment. She got rid of her slave name and received a new one. We too can receive a new name. Child of God. Yes, many say that we are all children of God no matter whom we believe in; however, that's not what God says. Yes, we were all made in His image, Genesis 1:26-27, and He oversaw us as we were being knit together in our mothers' wombs, Psalm 139:13-16. Yet how we become children of God who belong to His family is plainly set before us in John 1:11-12: He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
That's merely the beginning, but what a beautiful platform of truth on which to build. Becoming a loved son or daughter of God. Set free to grow in Him, 1 John 3:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:18.
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