God rejoices in the truth | Religion | gettysburgtimes.com – Gettysburg Times

Weve been discussing the true motivation of God toward mankind. We have looked at John 3:16, which says, For God so loved the world. He loved the world. That is why Jesus came, to put on display the love of God. In our quest to understand the motivation of God we need to determine who God is, that is, what His character is.

1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. 1 Corinthians 13 gives us the definition of love. It says that love is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and never fails.

Combining these references, we find ourselves asking how much of Christianity is missing something in understanding and application of the love of God. We seem to believe that God is love. Yet, we actually have a serious disconnect with defining Him as love. Our definition is flawed, and thus, our presentation of God to the world is flawed. Does love rejoice in the truth? Does God rejoice in the truth?

Truth is not valued as it should be, not in our nation, and tragically, not even among those who love the Lord, Jesus, the one who personifies the truth. Why? We have come to expect lies behind most everything we see and experience in our lives. But even more tragic is the fact that we know we live in a culture of lies. Ron Paul once said, truth is tyranny in an empire built on lies. Tyranny is defined as cruel and oppressive rule. Ponder that in the light of our culture. This has become our accepted way of life.

In a culture of rejecting truth, do we believe the truth about ourselves? In accepting truth, can we believe God rejoices in truth about us? How could He? Could it be that the truth He knows about us is different than the truth we believe about ourselves?

It is not only possible, but its a reality. God is love and is incredibly in love with us. He redeemed us. He forgave all our sins. That is all sins; past, present and future. He made us righteous. He did all of this by placing us in Christ when we were born from above. He sees us in Christ. He doesnt see as we see. He sees the object of His love as our Father.

He rejoices in the truth about us. That truth is that He judged all our sin in Christ, forgave us and gave us a new heart so we could know Him and become like Him. That new heart despises all that is not of God. That new heart is proof that we are and will ultimately be like Him. He now judges us by our heart, not by what weve done or ever will do. He sees us for who we are in Christ and who we are destined to become. He rejoices in this truth. Our destiny is found in Christ being in us. In that truth we should rejoice! In that truth God rejoices!

Richard Hamm has been in ministry since 1977. He graduated from Rhema Bible College in 1984 and came to be the pastor of New Life Family Church in the Gettysburg area serving from 1985 to 2008. He is presently involved in a traveling ministry helping churches in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia and Tennessee. He can be contacted at 717-253-3247 or at rhhamm2@gmail.com.

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God rejoices in the truth | Religion | gettysburgtimes.com - Gettysburg Times