Pearls, Mirror and Flute

By A. Wayne Harris

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     There seems to be something in man which forces him to search and seek. Hide-and-seek is a favorite children's game. Solving problems and working puzzles are inherent in man's makeup. The quest of the unknown is an adventure common to everyone from his very first day in this world. Seeking is good. One is dead when he stops!

     However, finding is much better. Seeking is only good if there is hope of finding. It is the hope of discovery that brings excitement to the search. Take away the hope of finding and there is no pleasure in seeking--only frustration and misery. If truth cannot be known, all are doomed to incompleteness and uncertainty in life.

     It is the Christian observation that truth is available (John 14:6). It can be found (John 16:13). It is definite and concrete (Eph. 1:13). It is the only worthwhile goal. To settle for anything less is to be in bondage for life and eternity. May the familiarity of the following words of Jesus not insulate us from their message. "If you continue in my word, you are my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31, 32). And he prayed to God concerning his disciples, "Sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth" (John 17:17). The truth which makes men free is easily understandable and readily available. While there are many difficult passages in the Bible, the heart and core of the gospel cannot be misunderstood without help.

     Jesus had just told Pilate why he had come to earth. "For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice" (John 18:37). Pilate asked him, "What is truth?" And then he turned and walked away without waiting for the answer.

     To be "of the truth" obviously cannot mean those who already have all truth. Such self-sufficient ones would have no need of hearing Jesus' voice. It means, rather to be a real friend of truth, seeking it out, associating with it, and sticking by it.

     Truth-seeking cannot be forced or legislated. It is an attitude to be cultivated. Even if truth-seeking were a commodity to be bought--like a "truth-seeking pill" --it would cost much more than many would be willing to pay. The cost would be the risk of changing one's mind and admitting past error.

     Those who will not re-evaluate their present beliefs in the light of possible new truth love something else more than truth. They are not free to seek truth because
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of a greater allegiance to something like tradition, teachings of men, doctrines which conflict with God's word (usually when taken out of context), friends, family, selfishness, materialism or other forms of pressure and prejudice.

MY PEARLS
     Matthew 13:45, 46 depicts a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, "on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it." He placed a great value on the possessions he already had, but he had trained himself to seek for the best and most valuable. He did not deny the value of the many things which he had accumulated. He simply recognized that they were less valuable than the pearl which he had found. Had he grown to love them so much he would not sell them for any reason, he would surely have been the loser.

     What about the things which I now hold to be true? Will I be able to see clearly enough to appreciate more valuable truths if they turn up? Will I be free to exchange them for God's truth if the Bible indicates that something else is more valuable? Will I make the mistake of stopping my search too soon? Being a truth seeker is an unending task because there is no place to stop and camp. There might be a new truth just around the bend. If there is, it proves that it would have been wrong to stop. If there is not, one is still better off and stronger. His beliefs have been reinforced.

     The more truth one explores without finding contradictions to his beliefs, the more confidence he can have in them. Truth cannot suffer from investigation. By leaving an "open end" on all that one believes, it will either be substantiated as being the truth or it will be replaced by what is actually true. One wins either way!

     Leaving an "open end" on one's beliefs does not indicate doubt as to their truthfulness. Precisely the opposite is the case. I am confident of the truthfulness of the things to which I hold most staunchly, and am therefore sure they can withstand bombardment, scrutiny and examination, without faltering. I am more likely to want to "protect my truth" in cases where I am not sure of its ability to stand.

     There is a sense in which all truth needs "protecting." Truth must be guarded against ignorance, wilful error and dishonesty. There is abundant evidence in the New Testament that there will always be false teachers to lead us astray. They look like sheep but they are wolves. The truth seeker knows why he believes what he does and is not content to let religious leaders, experts, or tradition, tell him "that is the way it is." Facts will wage war on our misconceptions of God's will but never on Truth Himself.

     Sir Isaac Newton once said, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting himself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." Surely the deep ocean of God's truth deserves far greater exploration than that which most people have done thus far.

MY MIRROR
     A plane mirror is expected to give as accurate a reflection of reality as possible. In order to do so, it must be smooth and have irregularities that are small compared with the wave length of the light being reflected. If the surface is uneven, certain features will be magnified into undue and monstrous proportions while others will shrink to almost nothing. The illcast or curved mirror which distorts even the most beautiful face into deformity is hilarious in a funhouse of mirrors. But it is not the kind chosen for the dressing-room where a true reflection is needed.

     The truth seeker tries to be accurate as a reflector of reality. He neither magnifies the importance of the familiar nor minimizes the significance of truth yet undiscovered. Even gospel truths can be distorted, magnified, minimized, or discolored by those who try to reflect them. One aspect of God's reality should not loom so large as to draw one's attention from other equally important features. At the same time, it must be remembered that all truths are not equally important. What a tragedy it would be for one to become so infatuated with his understanding of reality that he could not change even if God himself were to show him he was wrong.

MY FLUTE
     Many friends of truth love it as Frederick the Great loved music. It used to be said of him that, strictly speaking, he was not fond of music but of the flute, and not indeed of the flute, but of his own flute. It is a sad note when our love of truth is confined only to the tune we are playing.

     The truth seeker is not one who understands truth as a complex of statements or ideas. Truth is more than data to be intellectually assimilated. The more inclusive idea is that of reality. It is truth in the sense of the "real state of affairs" as disclosed by God. It is "revealed reality," "genuineness," or "divine reality." It is more than truth revealed in words. It is reality shown in the person of Jesus Christ. To be a truth seeker or a reality seeker is to seek Jesus Christ who is truth or ultimate reality (John 14:6). "The law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).

     No one else can seek for you. It is an individual quest. One cannot live on what others believe. To try and do so is to forfeit life itself. The only truth one really possesses is that which he finds for himself. At first glance Matthew 7:7 and 7:8 seem to say the same thing. But notice that verse seven says "Seek and you will find" while verse eight underscores the fact that it is he who seeks who finds. It is not done by proxy.

FIVE FORMIDABLE ENEMIES
     1. Prejudice. A decision is reached before all the facts are in and the investigation is closed. A judgment is held in disregard to the facts which contradict it.

     2. Pressure. A greater concern is shown for one's relationship to others--family, friends, community--than to God. Notice the order of the commandments. First, love God; second, love others. To reverse this order is to exclude all love for God who is reality.

     3. Politics. We speak of the derogatory sense of the word. Reference is here made to compromises with implications of seeking personal or partisan gain--scheming, opportunism and climbing within a group by sacrificing known truth.

     4. Pharisaism. "We have arrived at the truth, know it all, and are proud of it!" The posture of self-righteousness in external forms of religion is never becoming to the seeker after truth.

     5. Pride. Even the discovery of truth can lead to an overly high opinion of oneself. Pride can cause one to know the truth but miss the spirit of it. The discovery and enunciation of new truths cannot be an end within itself. Truth is for living and obeying, not just for display. "He who says 'I know him' but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected" (1 John 2:4, 5).

     Perhaps a sixth "p" should be added to this list as the summation of all five--phear. Fear cripples; love liberates. Perfect love casts out fear. May we not be afraid to seek out the "real state of affairs" as revealed by God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

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