The Truth

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

THE TRUTH

Luke 9:37-43

37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not." 41 "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here."  42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

NIV

Although we have another miracle, one where Jesus cast out a demon from a boy, there is a truth within these words of Jesus that we should focus on. When he called them an unbelieving and perverse generation he was in essence telling them they had turned their eyes from the truth. The original word translated perverse means to distort, misinterpret or corrupt. This is what the Jews had done to the Law of Moses. They had distorted it, misinterpreted it and corrupted it into something of their own making, rather then what God intended it for. He knew they could not keep the law and it was to show them they needed a Savior, the Messiah, who was Jesus. And with all the miracles he did in their presence and for them they still did not understand who he was. It was not being impatient with them, but rebuking them for being so entrenched in their perverted interpretation of the scriptures. Here is our life lesson. Are we guilty of perverting the scriptures, misinterpreting and corrupting the truth that God desires us to know and live by? Although Jesus was speaking to the Jews, not his own disciples this truth speaks to the church rather than to the unchurched. It would seem the unchurched would not even give any thought to the scriptures, but the church spends it energy in pursuit of the scriptures. Yet with so many differing opinions based on denominational bias or on the position of one of two man who lived years ago, it would seem some of the church is guilty of being a perverse generation. Although we all believe in Jesus so that we are not in that unbelieving category, there certainly is evidence enough to say some of us have misinterpreted and corrupted the truth.  So who is right, or are any of us right? Are we missing something? It would seem the appropriate course of action is to reject all opinions of men and simply allow the Spirit of God to lead us into all truth. That is not to say no man has the truth as some may have the right truth as they are led by the Spirit, but when we are forming and basing our faith on the words and opinions of other men, we may be in trouble of engaging in this perversion of the truth. The point is we have the scripture and we have the Spirit. What more do we need? Only to hear the truth.