Do we live in the truth, or do we merely acknowledge what is biblically true? Do we pay lip service to the truth, but choose to go our own way instead? How will we live our lives in 2022?
Merely acknowledging the truth does us no good. If, even knowing the truth, we prefer to choose our own self-directed path, that is the basis God will use to judge us. It is possible to admit that Jesus is the only way of salvation, but to prefer to live a life in our own pleasures, in our own sin if you will, instead. As Romans 6:23 tells us, the wages of sin is death.
Let us take a brief look at a biblical example of someone who knew the truth, but in the end refused to live in it. Among other things, 1 Samuel tells us the story of king Saul. He starts well, but chooses to listen to the people rather than to God. As a result of his disobedience, God tells him that the kingdom will be taken from him. God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the next king. At first David finds favor with Saul, but Saul comes to dread David and then spends the rest of his life seeking to kill him.
Saul knew the truth but didn’t act on it. In 1 Samuel 24:20 Saul admits that he knows that David will be king after him, and that Israel will be established by David. In 1 Samuel 26:21, Saul confesses that he has committed serious error and played the fool concerning how he has sought David’s life. In verse 25 he declares that he even knows that David will prevail. Earlier, he even tries to kill his own son Jonathan, for Jonathan’s friendship and alliance with David (1 Samuel 20:30–33).
As John 3:19 tells us, people prefer darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Even though deep down we know what is true, we all too often prefer going our own way, loving to practice what the Bible calls sin, and even encourage others to do the same (see the last half of Romans 1).
Think again about Saul. He knew the truth, but knowing the truth had no impact on his life. He still continued to persecute David. He consulted a medium just before his death, even though he had previously gotten rid of all the other mediums in accordance with God’s command. He became so twisted that not only did he cease to follow after God, in his paranoia he ended up killing God’s priests (1 Samuel 22:7–19). He knew the truth, but chose to go a route that resulted in his own destruction.
As Jesus warned us in Matthew 12:30, whoever is not with him is against him. The question is, if you know Jesus is the way of salvation, but have chosen to go your own way instead, will you change course in 2022? Apart from placing faith in Christ, it will not end well.
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