Thoughts on
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Song in the Night, an account
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of God's miraculous power
in the world today is available now!
Click HERE.
At Amazon or
your local
bookshop
6/12/2023
Time to be Valiant-for-Truth
“And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the lord” (Jeremiah 9:3).
“Valiant for the truth.” It’s a beautiful phrase to those who still have the ability to comprehend first principles and the simple, obvious realities of this broken world.
We live in an age of fake news, information overload, and abounding lawlessness. It is easy for truth to be trampled in the streets in our busy society, as the prophet Isaiah tells us (Isaiah 59:14). But that is our own doing. We need not let it lay there ignored, defaced, or twisted. We can take it up again and ensure that its voice is heard once more.
And unless we take it up with eager hearts and careful hands, we will never know the freedom that it offers; rather, we will be subjected to the continual chains of slavery that wrap themselves around our souls and our civilization. For without truth there is no freedom, as Jesus so clearly tells us (John 8:32). Yes, it is truth that makes us free—both in our own souls and in society at large.
It is a freedom of soul first, a manner of healing. It is a freedom that unleashes our hearts and minds to conceive the “unspeakable glory” that is God and His wonderful plans for His children. That spiritual perception of the purpose and meaning of life is given to us once we repent of our own guilt before a holy and just God and receive His absolution. It is the freedom from sin and guilt. It is the ability to love and create and it provides a foundation where those realities may flourish also.
Yes, truth and the freedom it brings to the soul bears directly upon the peace and freedom that permeates the rest of our society. Without an honest admission of our failings individually, then no freedom or healing is possible for the world in which we live. Without such love of truth, we will not see clean justice and rule of law in our world.
So, if we desire those things for ourselves and our families we must be a people willing to pick up that truth from the streets—to dust it off, to polish it up, to love it, and to lift its torch high for others to see. In short, we must have the courage to be valiant for the truth, as Jeremiah proclaims.
When it comes to quoting definitions, the older the dictionary edition the better these days. Webster’s Seventh gives a definition of “valiant” as “strength of mind or spirit that enables a man to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery.” That is what is required today if one is going to speak truth. Why does it require this courage? Why must we be valiant? Surely all people seek to live by truth?
Sadly, they do not. In fact, all of us have practiced the habit of lying to ourselves about many things—how good we are, why the other person is wrong, how unfair the world is. The prophet Isaiah and the Apostle Paul were right: “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
It is no mistake that in John Bunyan’s book The Pilgrim’s Progress, (second only to the Bible in terms of sales up to the 20th century) he includes a character by this very name: Valiant-for-Truth. It was something he knew from personal experience after being jailed for simply preaching the Gospel—no, not in a communist dictatorship, but in his very home of England.
And so must we who name Christ as our Lord and Savior ever seek to be Valiant-for-Truth as well, now more than ever. There are dragons to slay; damsels to rescue; and battles to be won. Such a work demands courage, valor, and perseverance. Today many revel in lies, deceptions, and immorality. These are those Paul describes as being given over to a “reprobate mind” (Romans 1:28). It is hard to imagine a more painful, wounded, and hopeless condition to which man can descend. But many are there.
If there is to be any hope in this world, it must come from those who are willing to be Valiant-for-Truth, to declare the only message of hope and healing this world has—that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because there is hope in this world, there is healing. There is a light shining in the darkness. The only question left to us is whether or not we will heed the command Jesus gave us about this problem: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Time to be Valiant-for-Truth
“And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the lord” (Jeremiah 9:3).
“Valiant for the truth.” It’s a beautiful phrase to those who still have the ability to comprehend first principles and the simple, obvious realities of this broken world.
We live in an age of fake news, information overload, and abounding lawlessness. It is easy for truth to be trampled in the streets in our busy society, as the prophet Isaiah tells us (Isaiah 59:14). But that is our own doing. We need not let it lay there ignored, defaced, or twisted. We can take it up again and ensure that its voice is heard once more.
And unless we take it up with eager hearts and careful hands, we will never know the freedom that it offers; rather, we will be subjected to the continual chains of slavery that wrap themselves around our souls and our civilization. For without truth there is no freedom, as Jesus so clearly tells us (John 8:32). Yes, it is truth that makes us free—both in our own souls and in society at large.
It is a freedom of soul first, a manner of healing. It is a freedom that unleashes our hearts and minds to conceive the “unspeakable glory” that is God and His wonderful plans for His children. That spiritual perception of the purpose and meaning of life is given to us once we repent of our own guilt before a holy and just God and receive His absolution. It is the freedom from sin and guilt. It is the ability to love and create and it provides a foundation where those realities may flourish also.
Yes, truth and the freedom it brings to the soul bears directly upon the peace and freedom that permeates the rest of our society. Without an honest admission of our failings individually, then no freedom or healing is possible for the world in which we live. Without such love of truth, we will not see clean justice and rule of law in our world.
So, if we desire those things for ourselves and our families we must be a people willing to pick up that truth from the streets—to dust it off, to polish it up, to love it, and to lift its torch high for others to see. In short, we must have the courage to be valiant for the truth, as Jeremiah proclaims.
When it comes to quoting definitions, the older the dictionary edition the better these days. Webster’s Seventh gives a definition of “valiant” as “strength of mind or spirit that enables a man to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery.” That is what is required today if one is going to speak truth. Why does it require this courage? Why must we be valiant? Surely all people seek to live by truth?
Sadly, they do not. In fact, all of us have practiced the habit of lying to ourselves about many things—how good we are, why the other person is wrong, how unfair the world is. The prophet Isaiah and the Apostle Paul were right: “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
It is no mistake that in John Bunyan’s book The Pilgrim’s Progress, (second only to the Bible in terms of sales up to the 20th century) he includes a character by this very name: Valiant-for-Truth. It was something he knew from personal experience after being jailed for simply preaching the Gospel—no, not in a communist dictatorship, but in his very home of England.
And so must we who name Christ as our Lord and Savior ever seek to be Valiant-for-Truth as well, now more than ever. There are dragons to slay; damsels to rescue; and battles to be won. Such a work demands courage, valor, and perseverance. Today many revel in lies, deceptions, and immorality. These are those Paul describes as being given over to a “reprobate mind” (Romans 1:28). It is hard to imagine a more painful, wounded, and hopeless condition to which man can descend. But many are there.
If there is to be any hope in this world, it must come from those who are willing to be Valiant-for-Truth, to declare the only message of hope and healing this world has—that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because there is hope in this world, there is healing. There is a light shining in the darkness. The only question left to us is whether or not we will heed the command Jesus gave us about this problem: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).