O, Beloved!

I heard through missionaries of a boy overseas who had memorized Jesus’ entire Sermon on the Mount. He did it in such record time and with such apparently little effort that someone called him in to find out how he had done it. “Well,” said the boy, “I would memorize a verse and then trust God to help me put it into practice. Then I would memorize the next verse and say, ‘Lord, help me to live this one, too.’” The boy said that in that fashion he had memorized the entire Sermon on the Mount. That boy had truth on his side. He did not consider truth to be something objective, simply to be filed in the mind as knowledge. Rather, truth to him was also subjective—to be acted on. Truth becomes real to us within our beings by obedience and faith.

— Discipleship (A.W. Tozer)

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God.”

— John 8:31–47 (ESV)

O, beloved,

You sit here, from a distance…admiring that boy. His simple faith, his simple application, his simple trust. He has a heart after God’s own Heart. You desire to be like him, yes? You…memorize God’s Holy Words so that they may penetrate and infiltrate your every fiber of your heart, mind, and soul. It all seems so simple on the onset, or from the outside looking in—externally.

And yet, once you begin the actual work, once you begin applying the truths of God to your own heart, it’s as if all of a sudden a great war begins. Battle is waged, and there is much bloodshed, much dying, much grief, much sorrow, much…pain. You feverishly apply the truth as a healing balm on your wounds all the more vigorously, the more lavishly…or you attempt at such things. And it’s as if the truth itself has the most attractive smell in all the world to all forms of darkness and evil. They come out of nowhere, led in by its scent, knowing, they too, have an opportunity.

Beloved? You cannot put on God’s truth without His help. Either it will rub right off you, numb you, or repel you. You must seek His aid. Every Word considered, must be absorbed, and dissolved, with prayer. Ask Him, beloved. O, my soul—ask Him! (tears) Ask Him to apply it gently, if you must. Or…perhaps He will know that it needs to be robustly applied with much agitation, much exfoliation. Either way, ask, beloved. (gentle) And let Him do His work. Fervently ask Him to apply it liberally, that it may cover you.

Why is His truth so very precious? Truth provides rest. Truth sets you free from doubt, beloved. O, soul…with truth, there is no fear. His truth will set you free. He offers it, it is His good gift, beloved. Take it. Put it on, wear it, live it. May it be the definitive and final point of rest for your weary soul—this day, and every day you draw breath.

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O, Father,

Please, may your truth set us free. Help us to ingest it—may it become part of us. I love you.

Amen.