In 1974 Coca Cola came out with a commercial song called It’s the Real Thing. This little ditty took the airwaves by storm for several years and had everybody in the country humming the tune and pattin’ their feet. “It’s the real thing … what the world wants today,” the young people sang. And so it is today. People everywhere are looking for something real …”the real thing.”
Click the link below, pat your foot along with me, and listen to the song. Then click back into today’s Dose of Encouragement as we start our week with a question. How do you know “the real thing” when you see it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSnjjdGh5M
LISTEN!
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
John 17:17
Why is it so important to be the real thing – to listen and live in the truth? Look around. I think we’d all agree there is a shortage of people who are what they say they are and how is that working out for us? We live in an age when so many say whatever they want others to believe, whether it’s the truth or not. Many think it’s okay to lie as long as it furthers their own agendas. So if we aren’t careful, we wonder who to believe.
Many are falling for a lie because they haven’t heard the truth – or didn’t listen to it when they did.
When my children were growing up, I’d tell them to do something and especially if they didn’t want to hear it, they’d keep doing what they were doing. At that point I’d clap loudly and say “Listen to me!” Then I’d get down on my knees, go nose to nose with them, and say, “I need your attention. Look into Mama’s eyes.” Pointing from their eyes to mine, I would know I had their attention. Well, hopefully. Sometimes I only had their eyes. Their thoughts were still on what they were doing before I pulled them aside.
Jesus had the same problem. Over 50 times in scripture He would say, “Listen!” For example in Matthew 13:3-9, he began his parable with “Listen!” He ended the story 9 verses later with the phrase, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
Over fifty times he said it. Why? Because He knew if we chose to listen and understand God’s Word, His truth, we would recognize a lie when we saw it. He knew we wouldn’t be so easily deceived. That’s why He said in John 17:17
“Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.”
And again in John 8:32 Jesus says,
“And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (HCSB)
And again in John 8:36:
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Knowing truth causes us to recognize hypocrisy and deception when we see it and to be free from it. And Christ wants us to be free in the truest sense of the word!
Until tomorrow,
Your Traveling Partner,
Brenda
“Boys, what you do speaks so loud I can’t hear a word you say,” I said to my three energizer bunny driven sons. I said those words more times than I can count. I wanted them to grow up understanding if their words didn’t match their actions; they were not the real thing. If there has ever been a time when we as a people need to know how to identify the real thing – the truth – when we see it, it is now.
When the Lord called me to this ministry, I never dreamed I’d go on mission into the countries of South and Central America, or to the Dominican Republic. When I heard His call to write and teach, I distinctly thought it was a call to the American home. Then Pastor Roberto asked if he could translate it into Portuguese and invited us to Brazil to teach and train their workers to use it. Afterwards, on the way home, I sat in shock praying, “Lord, I thought you sent me to the American home.”