Truth, or the one speaking it?

The wisdom of man answers… “The one speaking”. The pride of man requires truth to come through man’s efforts (education, training, position, fame, wealth, success) or it is not valuable. The messenger carries more value than the message.

This is a slap in the face of God, who authored truth. It is a lie proceeding from the deepest conceited heart of man. Not only a lie, but a way of placing man above God himself.

Strong words? Yes. Truth is truth, regardless of the speaker. The truth does not come from man. Truth comes only from God Himself. Placing importance on the messenger above the message is placing importance on man above God. The same sin that brought death, disease and destruction into our world through Adam’s actions.

Now I do get why people do this… It is easier. So much easier to just assume that a person speaks truth because of their background, position, etc. The listener no longer has to evaluate… No longer has to do the work of discerning truth. Just follow, assume, and life is easy.

But is that what God desires of us? To become blind followers of men? NO! We are each granted the ability to see truth through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. We are given equal access to truth. Why would we toss that aside and start blindly following men?

Jesus said “a little child shall lead them”. Not an educated, trained, professional. Not a wealthy, successful person. Not a famous popular individual. A child. Why? Because the child has nothing to rely on but God and truth.

You, I, all of us are equal. No one is above the sinful deceitful nature inside. No training or education or paperwork can erase a heart bent on believing lies. We are all born in sin. We all must rely on God, through Jesus’ blood granting us access to the Holy Spirit, to receive truth. No man warrants blind faith.

We don’t get the easy path. We are each responsible for properly discerning truth. Sure we help each other… That’s one purpose of the church. But church is not a place of the blind, but the seeing. We are to see for ourselves, and judge everything regardless of who speaks. Judge rightly, but judge.

The Pharisees here acted much like today’s educated professional. They discount the voice of the layman. They put themselves up on a pedestal, above God himself who uses the lowly things of the world not the great. It is sad.

Bottom line? Truth is truth. Anyone can speak truth. God spoke through a donkey once. We should never discount the message because of the messenger. We should never blindly assume the message based on the messenger.

Listen to the Spirit, and see with the eyes that God gave us and Jesus paid for.