The Basis of Truth

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17 (New King James Version)

My 19 year old son, Andy, went to his first college class at IUPUI yesterday. It was an English class and he observed something immediately. What he was told in the classroom is opposite of what he was taught by us as Christian parents and what he was taught in the classrooms of a Christian school from kindergarten through high school! His first homework assignment had to do with a chapter from a book that touted evolution as a “fact” and the Bible and creationism as mere opinion. His eyes are quickly being opened to the realization that he is going to be made to think and to hold on to what he knows to be the truth.

As we talked last night, I was so proud of him and excited for the opportunity he will have to become very thorough in his faith. Day one, and he is seeing the necessity to derive truth from God’s Word instead of from classrooms, books, and professor’s opinions. My prayer is that during the next four years he is strengthened in his faith, increases in his knowledge of Scripture, and faithfully stands as a voice of truth in each college setting. May he follow in the steps of our Bible ancestors who knew what it meant to stand solitary in their particular situations. His name, Andrew Earl, means “strong, manly” and that is what I want to see as the qualities of his Christian life.

It is times like this that I am reminded of the preciousness of God’s Word and the privilege I have to know it is His Word. His Word is truth, God inspired, unchanging, reliable, and living. It remains our foundation and plumb line for life. As my son is quickly learning, we start with God’s Word as the premise for truth and all other opinions, thoughts, and words must either align with it or be viewed and renounced as lies. Each time he is told something that attempts to chip away at that truth will be a time to go back to the Word of God and stand on what it says. I look forward to the times I am a part of that redirection and the times I experience the joy of seeing him do the searching himself. My prayers will go with him and my daughter, Stephanie, as they attend classes, that God would continually bring Scripture to their minds and they would walk in His truth! How I praise God that the ground work was laid early in their lives and that they are being called upon to evidence that.

Father, I entrust my children to You! I ask that Your Spirit hovers over them in each class and during each assignment. Help them to discern between truth and lies. Help them to faithfully contend for the faith. Strengthen them to walk in truth….Your truth! Amen.