This is true.

(I had posted this once accidentally, thinking that I said "save now," sorry all who read the first. )

Do not skip over the Scripture or you skip over my point.

"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." Psalm 19.

This is true.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:1-5

This is true.

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs." Hebrews 1:1-4

This is true.

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and the last; besides me there is no god'...Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: 'I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched our the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.'" Isaiah 44:6, 24

This is true. "Every word of God proves true" (Proverbs 30:5a)--this is true! It's true! We have been shown truth, and often it is not what we expected and even more often it's not what we wanted, but it is (Praise be to God) true and God (Praise be to God!) does not exist to fit reality into the expectations of our various warped fancies.

Another point, truth is also something we cannot comprehensively scrutinize or fully grasp and confine to our systems, thoughts, or words. A point that has been reiterated so often this last semester that I am almost tired of it, which brings me to my point.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth... For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 1:4; 3:16

This is true! May we remember that it is true so that we are not bored or apathetic towards God's word--that we neither conceive his word to be mere opinion (no eternal, universal substance) or exhausted material (shallow substance).

I am tempted to be underwhelmed by the truth of God. Are you? Do you feel like you have said certain truths so many times that it does not mean anything anymore? Or if not this, do you feel like you are no longer enthusiastic about the truth? Or do you refrain from saying the truth all together because it is so elementary or known that it is grueling to say it again? Is speaking God's word a labor? is it boring? lifeless? I think this temptation hits me often when I start studying God's word or just read the same passage a few times.

Even now as I am writing this blog post and editing it, I am tempted to think that concerning myself with whether or not we are enthusiastic about God and His truth is trivial or something not worth saying since it is too simple. Whenever I start writing devotions I am tempted to spot and say "it's all redundant," or "it's too simple." Henderson pinned me when he described me as someone who wants to always be saying something new or come at something common from a new insightful perspective. I do not want to say what has been said before. With this propensity comes a strong danger of not being excited or enthused by the simple or by anything I have learned. Once the idea was been in my head for long enough it becomes something dull to me. Some times in session I will not speak because I have heard it too often. Sounds terrible, but, looking at my thought process, that is the ground on which I justify my silence at times. I am all the more inclined to say something new, which is often never a good idea, since new ideas are some of the most shoddy things around.

This point of enthusiasm has been coming up in my life, and I was finally confronted by it in a sermon Erik Thoennes gave last Sunday. He was speaking on 1 John 1:1-4 and one of his points was John's enthusiasm. The Beloved apostle repeats himself over and over when testifying of his fellowship with Christ on earth ("heard", "seen with our eyes", "looked upon", "touched with our hands", "seen", "seen", "heard"). You can just hear his loving excitement and the affect that his encounter with Christ has had on him--this (the testimony of "the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us") really happened! It is true!

Thoennes then made a point about maintaining an enthusiasm in what you know and guarding against the sentiment of "been there, done that." He then brought up the Incarnation as an example of how we blunt proper enthusiasm for the truth of God by losing the proper sense of incomprehensibility and ineffable mystery that is in God's word.

This resonated with me. One reason why it affected me is that I was instantly aware of a fault in myself. I realized that I have stopped marveling at the incarnation. It became "clear," or to put it in a better way, it became "common." But since it is true it should always be thrilling and given the mystery of the God-man I should always be humbly marveling at the Lord's wisdom. This is a reality and because I love God I should love His truth.

"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1 John 1:5-10

This is true.

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11

This is true.

The reluctance to repeat something "known" is counterintuitive to the whole notion and reality of our relationship with God. Relationships require us to bear and rejoice in the repetition of truth. "I love you." If life were a simple test, a single answer once to the question, "Do you love me?" would suffice; but given that we live in fellowship with the divine, tri-personal God, it is utterly foolish to think of worship, prayer, etc. as filling a quota. God, I love you.

"Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable." Psalm 145:3

This is true. I am tempted to not say it again--in fact my pride would keep me from saying simply, "God loves you, God loves me, God is love! God has loved us in Christ Jesus, who gave Himself up for us, being given to us by the Father. He gave His life for the dead. He gave His righteous body as an offering for us, the lawless, unrighteous, sinful humanity." May we never grow tired of truth, but be joyful in the truth. Really, this is real, remember that and, by the grace of God, you will never grow tired of it, though you may grow tired. It is alright to grow tired in the Christian life but not to grow tired of the Christian life. When we study and live sacramentally, and study and life become grueling, and fatigue sets in, our fatigue is easily identified with the goal of the task at hand.

All this to lead into my point: enthusiasm is not opposed to fatigue--we can be broken, beaten, hungry, etc. and still enthusiastic about God's word. The problem comes when we give into the temptation of being tired of the word of God, then we have erred and our hearts have not honored the name of the Lord.

O Lord, deepen my appreciation for the reality framed in Thy word. You are beautiful, O LORD, you are true and good, holy and just, awesome and almighty, glorious and eternal, sovereign and loving. May I not tire of proclaiming your glory and goodness toward me in Christ Jesus. Thank you O Lord for Thank you Lord that you have not made us to live by bread alone but by every word that comes from your mouth and that you have given us a Helper to illuminate Thy truth.

God give us joy in your word, for, after all...it is true.

"For Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory forever and ever."

Now it is your turn.