If Jesus is not the Light
all paths are dark.
If he is not the Way
they lead only to darkness.
If he is not the Truth
the signposts are lies.
If he is not the Life
we will not find it.
— — —
My faith has been here.
It’s very simple:
My last dollar
I bet on Him.
dw
Grace and peace to you…
There is nothing new under the sun.
What we bemoan now we bemoaned seventy years ago
Seven hundred years ago
What we give away now, we gave away then
The freedom Jesus promised
To burn at the stake
To defy a tank
To hang on the cross
For the truth
dw
p.s.
I posted this earlier in response to a quote from Thomas Merton about how we are so inclined to go along with whatever group(s) we want to belong to.
Nothing New (2022)
This time, I’ll add another quote:
“You are a king then? ” Pilate asked.
“You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“What is truth? ” said Pilate.Gospel of John, chapter 18. Christian Standard Bible. CSB Reader’s Bible (p. 1603). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Grace and peace to you…
dw
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
The Gospel of John, 18:38
Is truth a light in the dark
or is it the dark itself?Is it pain
or a drug-mask that covers pain?If it’s a lone voice
on a noisy street corner
is it worth hearing,
stopping for?If we jeer at it
does that make it less true?What if most of us jeer?
Jesus said:
For this purpose I was born
and for this purpose I have come into the world –
to bear witness to the truth.This he said facing crucifixion.
Truth was a big deal to Jesus.What is truth,
to you,
to me,
to all of us?
dw
Copyright © 2020, becomingflame.com
Freedom is perfect when no other love can impede our desire to love God.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island, Sentences on Hope
From John’s gospel, Chapter 8:
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Harper Bibles. NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (Kindle Locations 79992-79998). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Grace and peace and freedom to you…
dw
What is the truth? It is not the answer to any question that we know how to ask. Can there be a truth that saves, can there be salvation, for those who have learned of life not to believe in salvation? Only on the other side of pain…the pained embarrassment at the words Jesus Saves, which at its heart is a pained embarrassment at our own nakedness and incompleteness…pain that brought tears to the eyes…of hope betrayed…the pain of the good thief, which is the pain of surrender, the pain of acknowledging finally our utter helplessness to save ourselves.”
Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “The Sign by the Highway”
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