Truth
There is so much truth.
There is so much truth. So much of it that I feel utterly incompetent when it comes to pinning it down, especially as it has been put so well by so many different authors and thinkers-so much better than I ever could.
There's something about truth that transforms the soul. I've been filled up to the tip top with truth, and emptied of self. Truth pushes Shaina out of the way and says, "It's not about you. Get over yourself." Sometimes God pours truth in torrents down from the heavens upon you, with thunder and lightening, and sometimes He tosses you into a warm lake of it. Sometimes he metes it out to you in dropperfulls. But if you're not finding truth at all, you're not really looking.
I can see why middle aged people often become dissatisfied with their lives, looking back on their younger years: all the change and newness that I'm experiencing now is exciting. But it's also unsustainable; and it's hard, but they don't remember that. If they would make life a search for truth, instead of settling into their everyday lives, like they so often do, they would be full. They would be full of truth, empty of self. And that is meaningful. So much more meaningful than that which disguises old things in new clothing in a vain attemopt to be exciting and novel (for "there is nothing new under the sun") and more filling than a Sunday dinner-though at the same time also producing a hunger for more. Truth is spiritual food. You need to constantly be refilling your soul with truth, like you repeatedly fill your stomach with food. Without food, you starve. Without truth, you starve your soul. It's not a one-time deal; we, like the Israelites forget the truths we've learned. But if we're searching, we can be constantly filled up with "new-old" truths we learned before, and help us to view them in a better way. T.S. Eliot says that Virgil passed on to the Christians "the principle that action and contemplation, labor and prayer, are both essential to the life of the complete man." But the Romans forgot that, just as we have. "The late Roman world was a culture spiritually impoverished and disordered, lacking a common core of belief...It was a world spiritually and intellectually bored. Mankind can endure anything but boredom. Because men could not order their own despairing souls, the order of the commonwealth could not be saved." says Russell Kirk. Boredom is alleviated by the continual pursuit of truth, because it leads us to God. The pursuit of material gain, for its own sake, is limited and cannot feed our souls. "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronomy 8:3
"The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness." Proverbs 15:14 Fools feed their souls on foolishness. Things that are temporal and ill-suited to be the fare of a hungry soul.
Truth fills our souls, it sustains them and nourishes them.
Jesus also says that truth is freeing. "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
Deceit and slavery go hand in hand. Truth and freedom go hand in hand. Those who labor under the lie of self-sufficiency and feed their souls on foolishness are enslaved to the things they endeavor to use to fill up the hole in their being. Instead it consumes them, enlarges the hole and makes them ever hungrier, starving for God, longing to be truly human again, yet continuing to starve their souls with phantom food. When the Son sets you free, He fills the God-shaped hole in your soul, He restores you to humanity through His blood, and He frees you to enjoy the gifts He's given without becoming enslaved to them because with Him, you're full. With Him, your soul is satisfied.
"Why have I gone hungry?
I’ve gone hungry
In a land of plenty
Feed your soul
Feed your soul
If you are empty and you want to be whole
Feed your soul
On bread and water
Truth and silence, all sons and daughters
Feed your soul."
-Christa Wells
There is so much truth. So much of it that I feel utterly incompetent when it comes to pinning it down, especially as it has been put so well by so many different authors and thinkers-so much better than I ever could.
There's something about truth that transforms the soul. I've been filled up to the tip top with truth, and emptied of self. Truth pushes Shaina out of the way and says, "It's not about you. Get over yourself." Sometimes God pours truth in torrents down from the heavens upon you, with thunder and lightening, and sometimes He tosses you into a warm lake of it. Sometimes he metes it out to you in dropperfulls. But if you're not finding truth at all, you're not really looking.
I can see why middle aged people often become dissatisfied with their lives, looking back on their younger years: all the change and newness that I'm experiencing now is exciting. But it's also unsustainable; and it's hard, but they don't remember that. If they would make life a search for truth, instead of settling into their everyday lives, like they so often do, they would be full. They would be full of truth, empty of self. And that is meaningful. So much more meaningful than that which disguises old things in new clothing in a vain attemopt to be exciting and novel (for "there is nothing new under the sun") and more filling than a Sunday dinner-though at the same time also producing a hunger for more. Truth is spiritual food. You need to constantly be refilling your soul with truth, like you repeatedly fill your stomach with food. Without food, you starve. Without truth, you starve your soul. It's not a one-time deal; we, like the Israelites forget the truths we've learned. But if we're searching, we can be constantly filled up with "new-old" truths we learned before, and help us to view them in a better way. T.S. Eliot says that Virgil passed on to the Christians "the principle that action and contemplation, labor and prayer, are both essential to the life of the complete man." But the Romans forgot that, just as we have. "The late Roman world was a culture spiritually impoverished and disordered, lacking a common core of belief...It was a world spiritually and intellectually bored. Mankind can endure anything but boredom. Because men could not order their own despairing souls, the order of the commonwealth could not be saved." says Russell Kirk. Boredom is alleviated by the continual pursuit of truth, because it leads us to God. The pursuit of material gain, for its own sake, is limited and cannot feed our souls. "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronomy 8:3
"The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness." Proverbs 15:14 Fools feed their souls on foolishness. Things that are temporal and ill-suited to be the fare of a hungry soul.
Truth fills our souls, it sustains them and nourishes them.
Jesus also says that truth is freeing. "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
Deceit and slavery go hand in hand. Truth and freedom go hand in hand. Those who labor under the lie of self-sufficiency and feed their souls on foolishness are enslaved to the things they endeavor to use to fill up the hole in their being. Instead it consumes them, enlarges the hole and makes them ever hungrier, starving for God, longing to be truly human again, yet continuing to starve their souls with phantom food. When the Son sets you free, He fills the God-shaped hole in your soul, He restores you to humanity through His blood, and He frees you to enjoy the gifts He's given without becoming enslaved to them because with Him, you're full. With Him, your soul is satisfied.
"Why have I gone hungry?
I’ve gone hungry
In a land of plenty
Feed your soul
Feed your soul
If you are empty and you want to be whole
Feed your soul
On bread and water
Truth and silence, all sons and daughters
Feed your soul."
-Christa Wells
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