Bringing Truth to Life

Dr. Lewis Foster was a brilliant scholar with advanced degrees from Harvard and Yale, but he also was a humble man who used down-to-earth stories to illustrate profound truths. When I studied under him in graduate school, he opened his class sessions with devotional thoughts that sometimes were more memorable than the lectures themselves.

One time he told a story about playing high school football. He was proud of his physical strength, but as Lewis lined up for a play in practice the coach reached over with one hand and yanked him to the ground. "Strength isn't the only thing that matters," the coach explained while the youthful Lewis lifted himself off the ground. "It's also about balance." Dr. Foster explained how the Christian life needs a healthy balance of truth and love, work and rest, grace and accountability.

Another time he opened class with the following comment: "People keep asking, 'Is it relevant?' But we ought to ask a different question: 'Is it important?'"

"If something is really important," Dr. Foster explained, "it will always be relevant."

There's nothing more important and relevant than God's Word. Culture constantly changes, but God and his truth do not change and basic human needs do not change. That's why in the opening words of the Bible's longest book, Psalm 1 pronounces a beatitude upon all who take truth seriously: "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers" (v. 1).

What Will We Do With the Truth?

Instead of walking, standing, or sitting with those who disregard God's revelation, Psalm 1 recommends a different posture.

Delight in it. Some consider Scripture boring and irrelevant, but the wise person's "delight is in the law of the Lord" (v. 2). She finds joy in discovering a new insight during her personal Bible reading. He listens carefully to biblical teaching and takes the messages to heart.

Meditate on it. A wise person doesn't push biblical truth to the margin, as if matters of faith are a minor component or a small compartment of life. Instead, "on his law he meditates day and night" (v. 2). God's Word keeps us in touch with reality. We should keep it in mind around the clock. Properly understood and applied, it shapes our values, guides our decisions, infuses our work with purpose, and takes our relationships to new depths.

Roots and Fruit

When we delight in and meditate on God's revealed truth we will be "like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither" (v. 3, English Standard Version). Our deep spiritual roots will keep our souls well-nourished during the dry times and firmly anchored when storms arise. By contrast, the wicked are unstable and insecure, "like chaff that the wind blows away" (v. 4).

God's revealed truth is practical and relevant. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). That's why we need to learn it, delight in it, meditate on it—and most of all, put it into practice.