Monday Minutes With Pastor Chris McCool (January 9, 2023)
In this article by Elder Michael Ivey, we see how important it is to understand that God is the ultimate Reality of life. In fact, He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” As the ultimate Reality of the universe, we can look to Him as the source of every good thing in our lives.
I pray we can remember the ultimate reality of the Lord Jesus Christ as we face the enemy every day! Only by doing so will we be able to stand in the spiritual battles of life.
May the Lord bless you is my prayer.
Elder Chris McCool, Pastor
The Way, The Truth, The Life
by Elder Michael Ivey
“Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” John 14:5-7
Jesus statement to Thomas reveals God IS both ABSOLUTE and PHILOSOPHICAL REALITY: He is absolute reality as the self-existing, eternal reality who is the uncaused, first cause of all else that exists. Just so, God as THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE supplies the philosophy of reality by which we may – by proper thinking – come to understand the truth of what reality is, and how and why it exists, including its nature and functional qualities in relationship to the One, who is the real true and living God.
God THE WAY is the source of all the laws of nature and of perfect moral values and impeccable ethics for humans. In Christ Jesus He provides the comprehensive, perfect way of righteousness and holiness by which we may ethically live according to God, THE WAY in joy and peace.
As THE TRUTH, God is the source of all truth pertaining to reality, including both material and immaterial reality. Furthermore, by the reality of His righteous and holy Being He alone defines what are the moral (and immoral) characteristics of material and immaterial reality. This is so because I AM God is the great, self-existing, (for) ever constant reality Who is before and above all else. Therein, He is the sole moral authority capable of rightly judging all aspects of subsequent lesser reality. GOD IS real and all else exists according to The Truth of His reality whether (or not) humans of the subsequent and lesser reality understand or agree.
God is THE LIFE. By His I AM self-existence God is life. As the CREATOR who is the uncaused, first cause of all else, He is the source of life and its true meaning; which is contained in and proceeds from God THE LIFE whose reality transcends time and space. He is THE LIFE as spiritual and material life. He is THE LIFE eternal. As THE LIFE God is perfectly and completely the first-cause source of man’s life in body, soul and spirit. Thus, it is so that God THE LIFE is the definer and supplier of man’s quality of life according to the good pleasure of His own righteousness and holiness.
When we live according to THE WAY and THE TRUTH of God we are blessed by Him to experience goodness in this life according to THE LIFE of God; which He gives us as a now present sense of loving security along with joyous, confident assurance of one day wholly knowing the THE WAY and THE TRUTH of THE LIFE eternal with Him.