November 27, 2000
CYBERCOLUMN:
A handle on truth and freedom
___By Berry D. Simpson
___"I have a better handle on things than most people" is what I thought as I left an Austin hotel to run down the Waller Creek Greenbelt. I was feeling superior to the treadmill pounders I'd just observed in the hotel gym, who actually were waiting in line for a turn to run on a machine. I'm sure they saw it as an opportunity to run in a safe, crime-free,predictable, controlled environment, but I thought they were missing an opportunity to run outside on one of the premier urban trail systems in America. They were getting a cardiovascular workout, but no spirit building. That's what I was thinking as I ran past.
BERRY SIMPSON
___ Along the trail, I worked on John 8:31-32, "If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
___ That's what I want to know--the truth. And to be honest, I felt I had a pretty good handle on it. After all, I'd invested countless hours learning the truth.
___ However, the first time I got lost on the trail and fumbled with my map and accepted the fact that I might not know as much about urban running as I'd thought, it occurred to me that God's truth may not conform to my well-thought-out logic, either. I always assumed that when I finally discovered God's spiritual truth in its completeness, I'd say, in awe: "Wow, I was right all along. It's just what I was thinking!"
___ Pretty arrogant, huh? Well, I don't mean to be arrogant, but I don't know how to imagine a truth beyond my own imagination. I only know how to imagine what I know.
___ In addition to truth, I also want to know freedom, the other promise from those verses. However, again, when I imagine a future life of freedom, I imagine life with few worries and unlimited potential, a life where I can read as much as I want, write and run and travel and hang with Cyndi as much as I want with no fear from finances or poor health or anything else. That's how I imagine a life of freedom would be.
___ Pretty self-centered, huh? Arrogant, too. I thought I had a handle on freedom, and I was feeling very superior to those who were running in bondage in the basement of an Austin hotel until I ran up on a group of men living under one of the bridges who didn't appreciate my stepping in their living room. My quest for freedom didn't take me where I'd imagined.
___ I almost always get it wrong when I try to dream my way into a life of truth and freedom. I try my best. I want to think godly thoughts and live a godly life, but alas, my thoughts are not his thoughts, and my ways are not his ways.
___ As I thought about the freedom that God might have in mind, I wasn't sure I was ready for that. I don't really know what it means, and how can I anticipate what I don't understand?
___ And what about God's truth? Would I recognize it when I heard it? Would it be so different from my own thoughts I wouldn't catch it when it flew by?
___ Well, the more I thought about those verses in John, I realized maybe I didn't know how to be a disciple, either. I try to do the right things, and I work to do God's will, but I fail more often than I succeed.
___ So, bummer. What to do? Well, the good news is that God showed us his starting point in those very same verses when he said, "If you abide in my word." If we only abide (take up residence) in his word--if we read every day and memorize and meditate and study and make it our life--well, that isn't so hard. I could understand that.
___ So, God offers us a life of discipleship, truth and freedom, and he lovingly shows us the simple way to get there--abide in his word.
___ I spent my entire hour's run working on that one Bible verse; it was wonderful. That is, when I wasn't lost and studying my map.
___ The freedom and beauty of the trail inspired me. I don't have such a great handle on truth and freedom as I'd like to think, no more than I'm the runner I envision myself to be, but I know a God who wants me to be his disciple, who wants me to know his truth, and who wants to set me free. He's given me his word to abide in, and I can get a handle on that.
___ Berry Simpson is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland.
Get printer-friendly version of this story
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
