Seeker or follower?

Disclaimer:  The quotes of this post are from a short survey I sent out to a few “sisters-in-Christ” with this exact question.

All my life I have taken truth for granted.  I didn’t honor it, hardly ever told it and usually didn’t want it.   And when it hit me in the face – it hurt!  Nope, I didn’t like it at all L.

What’s so wrong with the truth, you ask.  Well, “the truth has nothing to hide”.  And honestly, I had LOTS to hide.  My sin, my past, my “real”ness.   And if I became “real”, noone would know me - and I’m being completely serious about that.

When you live lies, a lot of times it’s because you don’t know any better.  I’m not making excuses here, I’m just being honest.  I only knew lies.  Scripture tells us, “The truth will set you free.”  (John 8:32) Well, in my case, freedom wasn’t even on my radar, I’m talking about survival here and lying was how I survived,

But I knew something was wrong.  As my cousin explained it best, “I had no idea that all those little niggles in my conscience was the Holy Spirit all these years trying to help me”.  I searched for the “answer” and got nothing from the world.  Thankfully, my stepmom invited me to Bible study.  While studying scriptures, I guess you could say I “saw the light!”  I learned many things, things I never ever knew or heard before.  The truth changed me.  I no longer hated it, I sought it.  I wanted to know it, I yearned for it.  And I also yearned to be it – to be real. 

Does that make me a “seeker of the truth”, then?  But wait, once I found it, didn't that turn me into a follower?   As I think back, I don’t believe I “found” anything – I believe “it” found me because as I was told, “through the grace of God, He chose me to be His follower – I didn’t have to seek Him out – He found me.  God chose me and I chose to follow Him as my Lord and Savior.”  Yes, girlfriend, same with me -  and I believe its called, AMAZING GRACE.

So do we need to seek the truth?  I mean, doesn’t it live in us?  “Jesus is the Truth.”  (John 14:1).   “The truth has been determined and revealed by God Himself.   My seeking is in trying to understand it and as the mind of God is deep and rich and infinite”, it will take a lifetime to pursue.  I’m up for the challenge, how about you?

 

"There is an active role to play" in this challenge though.  Open God's Word - put on your "belt of truth" - "actively listen to it and obey it".  Do you belong to a Bible study?  If not, join one.  Daily devotions are a good way to start. 

As you read my disclaimer at the beginning of this post, I sent out a survey and read some amazing answers from “women of faith”.  Every one of these answers – whether a short sentence or three paragraphs long - touched my heart deeply.  And what touched me the most was reading the commitment in each one of them to the TRUTH.   A commitment, whether labeled, “seeker or follower”, to know God and His Truth.

I close with John’s commendation:

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.  It gave me great joy to have some brothers (sisters) come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.  (3 John 2-4)

 

As John wrote in his letter, this also gives me such joy to belong to this sisterhood – to be encouraged by others to know God’s Word and to live in the Truth.  I guess you could say its what I have always longed for - to be the woman God created me to be - real.