Truth is not manufactured
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” ESV Colossians 2:6-8
Why do you suppose antiques are valuable? Why is one person’s antique just another person’s junk? By definition antiques are old, but age itself is not necessarily a virtue. The value in antiques is a bit of a mystery to me because I don’t have an “eye” for it; I have not been trained in the craft. Even so, a novice like me would be suspicious, as Jim Rohn says, if I saw someone “manufacturing antiques” for sale. Think about it—aren’t antiques “old” by definition?
Truth is similar. Truth is certainly valuable and enduring and it is necessarily “old” by definition. You can’t manufacture truth anymore than you can manufacture an antique can you? No, of course not. Instead, truth is discovered. Solomon said that there “is nothing new under the sun.” The same thing can be said of truth.
It is no surprise when a novice like myself buys an old piece of junk mistaking it for a valuable antique. But for someone with a trained eye, the same a purchase would be an embarrassing mistake. Christians should find themselves in a similarly embarrassing situation when they’re caught following the advice of society instead of the truth found in the bible.
It would be impossible for me to number the times that I’ve talked with a fellow Christian about a problem or situation only to find that their situation was being compounded because they were embracing human philosophy and tradition instead of depending on the truth of God’s word. It is an amazingly easy trap to fall into.
As I read Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae, it seems that he is warning against that very error. Paul is admonishing Christians, those who have “received Christ Jesus,” to act like it! He’s telling them to live by faith in Christ, to be ruled by the teachings of Christ and not by the deceitful musings of human philosophy and tradition. By doing so of course, that is living by the truth of God’s word, you run the risk of being labeled “different.” But, shouldn’t Christians be different?
Resolve to be different. Don’t be an untrained believer in Christ. Train yourself in the faith by immersing yourself in God’s word so that “truth” is obvious to your trained eye. In doing so, you’ll save yourself from much pain caused by following the logic of this world. Remember, truth is not manufactured, but it can be discovered in the word of God.
Why do you suppose antiques are valuable? Why is one person’s antique just another person’s junk? By definition antiques are old, but age itself is not necessarily a virtue. The value in antiques is a bit of a mystery to me because I don’t have an “eye” for it; I have not been trained in the craft. Even so, a novice like me would be suspicious, as Jim Rohn says, if I saw someone “manufacturing antiques” for sale. Think about it—aren’t antiques “old” by definition?
Truth is similar. Truth is certainly valuable and enduring and it is necessarily “old” by definition. You can’t manufacture truth anymore than you can manufacture an antique can you? No, of course not. Instead, truth is discovered. Solomon said that there “is nothing new under the sun.” The same thing can be said of truth.
It is no surprise when a novice like myself buys an old piece of junk mistaking it for a valuable antique. But for someone with a trained eye, the same a purchase would be an embarrassing mistake. Christians should find themselves in a similarly embarrassing situation when they’re caught following the advice of society instead of the truth found in the bible.
It would be impossible for me to number the times that I’ve talked with a fellow Christian about a problem or situation only to find that their situation was being compounded because they were embracing human philosophy and tradition instead of depending on the truth of God’s word. It is an amazingly easy trap to fall into.
As I read Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae, it seems that he is warning against that very error. Paul is admonishing Christians, those who have “received Christ Jesus,” to act like it! He’s telling them to live by faith in Christ, to be ruled by the teachings of Christ and not by the deceitful musings of human philosophy and tradition. By doing so of course, that is living by the truth of God’s word, you run the risk of being labeled “different.” But, shouldn’t Christians be different?
Resolve to be different. Don’t be an untrained believer in Christ. Train yourself in the faith by immersing yourself in God’s word so that “truth” is obvious to your trained eye. In doing so, you’ll save yourself from much pain caused by following the logic of this world. Remember, truth is not manufactured, but it can be discovered in the word of God.
posted by TBC at
12/05/2010 03:40:00 PM
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