When I was in high school ('68-'71), my friends and I had an on-going debate about who the best guitar player was. One of my friends said it was Eric Clapton, lead guitar player for Cream. A good choice. He truthfully was very good but, in my mind, not quite the best. Another of my friends claimed the world's best guitar player was George Harrison. He too was good but I was of the opinion that he was mainly popular because of the band he was with - The Beatles - and not so much for his guitar prowess.
For me there was only one guitar player worthy of the title "The Best" and that was Jimi Hendrix. He was amazing. The Beatles went to see HIM play! Yet, for as good a guitar player as Jimi Hendrix was, he spent a lot of making bad choices and just as much time searching for answers.
I was watching a Bible study done by Mark Hall of Casting Crowns a few years ago. Mark told a story of a Jimi Hendrix concert where someone in the crowd yelled out, "You're the truth!" At that point, so the story goes, Jimi stopped what he was doing and asked, "Does anyone know what truth is?" No one answered.
There is a popular saying I have heard a few times that bothers me. "The truth is what we make it out to be." Still another says, similarly, that "truth is what the majority of people say it is." Really? REALLY?
I have a question for you. What is truth? What is truth in YOUR life? Is it what YOU say it is? Is perception YOUR reality? Is truth what the government says it is? Our political leaders? Our laws?
Personally, I have found that there is only one source of truth and that is the Bible - God's Word. If we look to people or institutions such as the media or our government for truth we will often be disappointed, even discouraged. And if that is where we place our hope and if it is our sole source of truth, we are doomed to a life of unfulfilled, disappointing attempts to find true joy and happiness.
There have been people in my life, and in fact, churches, who have told me that the Bible contains errors and discrepancies. It sounds to me like those people and places are still searching for truth themselves. They spend their time trying to explain God rather than simply worship Him. Perhaps they feel that if they puff themselves up big enough and "proclaim the truth" loud enough, maybe people will believe in them and their version of God rather than the more strict version of God portrayed in the Bible. Babel is a more appropriate word for what they are preaching. It seems like they hope, THEIR truth, will become more palatable to the general public than THEE truth and thereby draw people to themselves, their beliefs or to their church. That is not only wrong, that practice is blasphemous.
Here's a tip for all people on how to find TRUE joy and happiness in life. It's quite simple actually. Place God first in ALL things you do. It's that easy. Make God a part of everything you do, every decision you make, every act you commit. Let every breath of life that is breathed in and breathed out be breathed for the glory of God. Allow His Word to become a filter through which everything you do and see enters your heart. Do this and you will be blessed.
God's Word is THEE truth. There is no substitute. There is no Book of Additions or Deletions. Stand firm on God's Word and Truth.
Hmm. You know, I wish there would have been just one person at that Jimi Hendrix concert who would have had the courage to stand up when Jimi asked, "What is the truth?" and could have said, "I know what the truth is! It's Jesus Christ!!"
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” - John 14:1-7 (ESV)
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Third Stone From The Sun
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