Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
To meditate on “what is true,” you have to know what the truth is.
Some people say there is “no absolute truth,” deferring to our “perception of truth” as being the only standard we can hold to. “Four blindfolded men,” they say, “stand surrounding an elephant. One grabs hold of the elephant’s tail, one touches his side, one grabs a tusk, and one holds on to the trunk. Each one,” they say, “has a different perspective of an elephant, and each would say something different about what an elephant is, based on their own experience.”
The fallacy of this argument, (though colorful,) is obvious. The men are purposely blind to the truth. Remove the blindfold, and the elephant becomes clear. The elephant is the truth, not man’s blindfolded perception from individual perspective of what the elephant is. It is a position of ignorance which says, “the elephant is a swishing tail, or the elephant is a cool, smooth, bone.”
Only a fool would stand on those findings, and be pleased to remain blindfolded.
Psalm 14:1 says, The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” The fool, according to the Bible, is the blindfolded man who refuses to remove the blindfold because he is comfortable with the information he has and will look no further.
But when the blindfolded man also proclaims this is all he is capable of knowing, then we must see his foolhardiness for what it is – which is self-satisfaction and lack of intellectual curiosity. I refuse to listen to a proclamation of “truth” from a blindfolded man.
I was skeptical when I came to Christ because I could not see Him. But that did not stop me from looking to see what I could see. I could see radically-changed lives all around me. I could see very smart, even brilliant men down through history who believed in Jesus. I could see God’s unchanging Word versus man’s constantly changing assessment of scientific knowledge. I could see man attempting to explain how something came from nothing. All of this seemed like foolishness to me so I kept looking.
At what I thought was great risk, I asked Jesus to come into my heart. Then the blindfold was removed and I saw the Truth for myself. Now I can meditate safely.
- Pastor Bill
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