The Truth

May 27, 2000

Truth Demands a Response

Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth.

Psalm 86:11

One foggy night, the captain of a large ship saw what appeared to be another ship�s lights approaching in the distance. This other ship was on a course that would mean a head-on collision. Quickly, the captain signaled to the approaching ship: �Please change your course 10 degrees west.�

The reply came blinking back through the thick fog: �You change your course 10 degrees east.�

Indignantly, the captain pulled rank and shot a message back to the other ship: �I am a sea captain with 35 years of experience. Change your course 10 degrees west!�

Without hesitation, the signal flashed back: �I am a seaman, fourth class.

You change your course 10 degrees east!�

Enraged, the captain realized they were approaching each other quickly and would crash within minutes. So he blazed his final warning: �I am a 50,000-ton freighter. Change your course 10 degrees west!�

A simple message winked back: �I am a lighthouse. Your call !�

Like the sea captain, we may need to change course when confronted with the truth. That�s what happens when we make it a priority to spend time reading and applying God�s Word. It is eternal truth. It doesn�t change, so we need to adjust our lives to walk in that truth.

So many of us spend our lives avoiding the truth of God�s Word because we don�t want to walk in it. Christ said in John 8:32 that �the truth shall make you free,� but as Herbert Agar wrote in A Time for Greatness, �The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.�

What is the Bible to you? A collection of nice stories? The foundation of a conservative worldview? Or is it God�s Word, �living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword?� (Heb. 4:12). Does anything keep you from obeying God�s Word in every area of your life-your business, your marriage, your family? Do you need to adjust the course on which you are heading today?