“He saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed Him” ( Matt. 9:9).
Almost 2,000 years have passed since Jesus asked men for their unreserved commitment to Himself. He made it quite clear. They must be prepared to give up everything for His sake, leave family and friends if necessary. Can the same thing be done in our day? When Jesus was on earth, life was largely rural and very simple. Now life is highly complex, industrialized, sophisticated.
Jesus said, “I am the Trust”. Is trust still the same? Can we count on it? The new Testament has two meanings for the word truth. First, truth means a logical consistency; it refers to clarity in our thinking, and believing what the Bible says. But there is much more to the meaning of truth than ideas, facts, words, that satisfy our need for a sound reasoning.
The second use of the word “truth” or “true” is to denote genuineness, Jesus is called the True Light, the True Bread. This has nothing to do with Christ’s telling the truth. Truth here means that Jesus answers in His total person to that which is absolutely genuine. There is nothing about Him that is phony or false. The way Christ lived His life as a man and met every situation and every individual is the one genuine way.
Truth as genuineness can be known only when we ourselves become part of it and are thoroughly involved with it. We may study the facts and the evidence for Christ’s resurrection and agree that the argument for it is logically sound. This is important, but it is not enough. We must share in the resurrection life of Christ to know the genuineness of it. It is of little use to cry, “The truth – we have the truth.” We must face the issue of what a genuine Christian really is; what kind of person we actually are. Sin, lust, selfishness, hate, are such terrible realities. These are not empty words. They discribe what we are from time to time. The only answer to these sinful realities is to experience the reality of Jesus Christ. Our trust and commitment is to be wholly genuine – oneness with Him as a power for love, not for hate; for humility, not pride; hope, not despair.
Edward Heppenstall
In touch with God, p.302
