Truth is not a Burden

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus walked on this earth as Truth embodied. He is the God of the universe in human form and in this passage He called to those listening and to you and me today to rest in Him. We don't usually think of truth and rest in the same sentence do we?

Usually truth has the connotation of hard work. Because of our legal system you hear terms like "burden of proof." We talk about "searching the Scriptures" for the truth. We could go on and on with the examples from daily life that give us the idea that truth is tough going.

But is it really supposed to be that way? That is a good question. The Bereans were praised for their searching hearts weren't they. YES! So what do we mean when we say that "Truth is not a burden"?

Simply this: Our life is a journey into a deeper and deeper relationships with Jesus. If Jesus is Truth embodied as we said earlier, then our life is a constant process of knowing truth as we become more intimate with Jesus. The wonderful part about knowing Jesus is this promise in Matthew. He says that if we come to Him and invest in Him, He will give us rest.

For so many years, we have viewed truth as a goal. We dig, define, and debate in our ongoing search for truth. The discipline of these things has its place, but in the process we have made truth a burden instead of what it was meant to be.

Jesus came and said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) So we begin our truth journey focused on Jesus. But soon the search for truth can take the place of the relationship with Jesus as the focus of our attention.

We are convinced that if your truth journey is focused on your relationship with Jesus, that He will make the ride a wonderful one as you get to know your Savior. There will still be late nights of study, and opportunities for intense discussion but the burden will be on Jesus' shoulders instead of your own.

The Real Story

As we get ready to launch our new book "Through the River" next week, there is a bigger story of what God is doing in our lives as a couple. We would love to share that with you. We pray that it will enrich your experience with our book as you hear what God is doing in our lives.

Read our post on our Generous Mind Blog.

Truth Tweets

Our book is arriving next week and will be on Amazon to purchase by September 1. We are very excited and our desire is to help you get your hands around what it means to understand your assumptions about truth. We believe it will transform your faith, relationships and outreach.

But we wanted to make it super simple. So we are launching a 30 Truth Tweets on our Twitter Feed. Starting September 1 you can receive one Truth Tweet each day that will give you a small insight into our book.

If you are on Twitter, go ahead and follow our feed so you won't miss a single day! www.twitter.com/generousmind

Accountabilities Role in Truth

One of our great challenges in our truth journey is allowing others to hold us accountable as we travel. This accountability, is so central to growing in knowledge and staying clear of untruth. But we struggle with accountability don't we. I have been wondering why accountability is so hard and so I wrote the following post on our Generous Mind blog:
http://generousmind.blogspot.com/2009/08/generous-accountability.html

We would love your thoughts or ideas.

Humility and Critical Realism

Critical realism is based on a humble approach to knowledge. It is the assumption that we cannot know all truth, but that we can know truth. It is humble by definition.

It’s clear that humility is important to God. There seems to be a relationship between humility and God hearing our prayers.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

(See also 2 Kings 22:19, Ezra 8:21)

If we are searching for truth, and are humble in our approach of the Almighty One, then he promises to teach us.

Psalm 25:9 (New International Version)
9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.

We cannot see the astounding truth of the Scriptures if we are not humble. We need to get out of the way.

Jeremiah 44:10 (New International Version)
10 To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed my law and the decrees I set before you and your fathers.

Following God’s Word is an important part of learning God’s truth. By following his “laws and decrees,” we see His truth in action, being lived out in our lives. It is more than theoretical knowledge, but a holistic knowledge that takes the messiness of life into account.

How would Christian critical realists search for truth? They would first humbly pray and ask God to hear them. Then ask what He wants to reveal while living out the Scripture in their lives.