Real Truth

          You may have had a time or two in your life when you found that you were having to find out what is really true about something you read or heard.  Webster in one of his earlier dictionaries define truth as, " Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be. The truth of history constitutes its whole value. We rely on the truth of the scriptural prophecies."  I receive a lot of things in my email and some of it is true and most of it is not true.  I find that I try to check out those things that are suspicious but then the question comes, "is that source true in their explanation of the story?"  I have had to go back many times trying to determine if something is true or is it false.  I often think of those people who tell me something and then look at me to see my response and finally say, "Oh, I was only kidding."  Then, I wonder why they said it in the first place.  When we ask the question about the search for truth, you know that there is only one place to go.   John 17:17 reminds us, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." 
        There it is.  The plain statement is the declaration of that which is truth.  "Thy Word is Truth."   Truth matters when eternal things are at stake.  Truth matters when you are depending on where you are going to spend eternity.  Truth is not going to be guaranteed by the age oft he institution, person or book.  Truth is not going to be determined by tradition, quality of music, amount of incense or the height of the stained glass windows.  As it was stated in the Gospel of John,  "....Thy Word if Truth."    I have stood inside of many churches and some of them were distinct in their design and had great stories behind them.  I was in one church which did not have a single nail in it.  It had been built entirely with wooden pegs.  Oh, and there was no mention of doctrine or truth, just that no nail had been driven into its boards.  I stood in churches that were built in the 12th Century but no mention of truth.  I stood in churches where the acoustics were the best and you could hear a pin drop, but there was no mention of truth.  Truth comes from God's Word and not from anywhere else.  If the Gospel message is being preached from a flat rock, they you have truth.  If the message of salvation is coming forth from God's Holy Word in the bow of a ship, you have truth.  Acts 17:11 says, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."  The Bereans checked the Scriptures and they found truth.  On whose word to you claim eternal life?  If it is anything other than the Word of God, the Holy Bible, then you have not found truth at all.  Praise God today for the Truth that He has given to us.