The Truth...and Nothing But the Truth

"As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me."

-- 1 Kings 22:14

I can recall those times in my hometown of Ventura, Calif. in the early 70's. Some "Jesus people," as we called them, walked along the beach where I surfed and told us about Jesus. I was intrigued with their passion and courage to talk about this One who seemed so real to them.

Touched by their testimony, I decided to buy a Good News New Testament so I could read for myself about Jesus. It only took reading the first eleven chapters of Matthew for the Holy Spirit to pierce my heart and make me realize that Jesus Christ truly was Who He said He was -- and what the "Jesus freaks" believe in so strongly. These words I was reading in my bedroom those evenings in Southern California were unlike any words I had read before. They were alive. And yet I was not ready to hear the truth, to obey the truth, to give my life to Jesus. I wanted to live my own life. And so for the next five years or so I lived how I wanted to live. The Lord graciously spared my life all that time and gave me time to repent and turn to Him in early 1976.

Now I know deep in my soul that Jesus truly is the Son of God and that His word is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And He has commissioned me as His disciple to go into all the world proclaiming this gospel. Some people I've talked to over the years about Jesus were open to His truth. But some were not. They chose not to believe. No matter how people might react, I know that my Lord has called me to speak for Him -- even if people get mad at me for telling them the truth.

This morning I read a story in 1 Kings 22, where Ahab called his "prophets" in to tell him whether to go into a certain battle. Then King Jehoshaphat told Ahab to call in Micaiah, a true prophet of God. Ahab hated Micaiah because of what he always told him. But he called in Micaiah anyway, who said, among other things, "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me."

King Ahab, mired in long-term rebellion to the living God, chose to surround himself with "prophets" who would tell him what he wanted to hear. And that's why Micaiah was so despised by the king, because this true prophet of God told the king the truth.

I ask the Lord to give me the boldness of a Micaiah – to tell the truth to others, and to myself, even when it hurts. For above all, I must take a stand for Jesus. Because He is the only Truth that can set us free.

Jim