Recognize the truth. 2 John 4-6

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I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
I don't understand why people willfully reject the truth. We preach it to our children from the first day they can speak: Always tell the truth. Our courts make us swear, to God no less, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and we send people to jail for failing to do so. We know the consequences of untruth, of half truth, of white lies can be severe. People get hurt.

So what exactly is truth? Socrates gave us a mouthful in defining it, when he said, "To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true." I will say it in much simpler terms: Truth is faithful, sincere, fact; it is unchangeable, consistent and beyond time; it doesn't distort.

That brings me to today's passage from John's second letter, which he wrote to "the elect lady and her children;" I think that means the church of God. After reading the Gospel of John and John's first epistle, there is no mistaking what he actually means here. This is the message you have heard from the beginning, he tells us. It is the message you heard in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. You hear it in Psalms and Proverbs, in Isaiah and Jeremiah. You hear the same, unchanging, faithful, sincere, consistent message in the Gospels, in Paul's writings.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love the Lord your God with all your soul. Love the Lord your God with all your mind. Love God. And love your neighbor as yourself (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:2, Lev. 19:18, Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27, John 13:34, 1 John 4:10).

Now this love God is telling us about isn't shallow. It isn't half truth, or a white lie. God gave his life, for you, through this love. God forgave you, with this love. Everything you have ever done wrong, forgiven. Every lie, including the "white" ones. Every hateful act. Every idol you worship. Now and forever.  FORGIVEN!


This unchangeable, sincere, factual, consistent truth is before us today, just as it was yesterday. God loves us. God forgives us. And because of it, he expects us to love each other, by ... drum roll ... loving him, turning to him, recognizing him, and forgiving each other.

The consequences of turning away from this simple, consistent, factual truth is devastating. Those who reject the truth will be separated from God. We will hear more about that in the coming days as we read the Revelation. But John warns us first here. There are many deceivers in the world turning away from the unchanging message that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, told people to put down their stones, to pick up their crosses, to turn to God and seek forgiveness for themselves and their neighbor.

This is the message you have been hearing from the beginning. It is such a simple, unchanging, sincere, faithful message. It was in the beginning. It will be in the end. Recognize God. Turn to God, and believe the truth.
 


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