Letters From Grandpa #385

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA

• 385

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will involve searching for truth. Solomon said to search for understanding like hidden treasure (Prov. 2:4). The Psalmist said that the “Ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold” (Ps. 19:10). He also said: “I love your commandments more than gold, more than pure gold” (Ps. 119:127). I pray that each of you will search for the truth with the same diligence that prospectors search for gold!

If you want to find gold, of course, you must search for it. Most of us have never found any gold, and the reason we have found any is that we have never searched for it! Gold is very heavy. It is 19 times heavier than water and three times heavier than iron. Consequently, as the earth shifts by geologic disruptions, and freezing and thawing, gold will sink to the lowest level possible. This explains the expression “digging for gold”. This also explains the principle of “panning” for gold. If you agitate a pan filled with water and gravel, if there is any gold in the mix it will sink to the bottom. Gold is expensive because it is rare and difficult to find. Consequently, lazy people never find much gold. Digging for gold, or panning for gold, is hard work! As Leo Tolstoy wisely said, “Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.”

Apologist Frank Turek confronts atheists, skeptics, and unbelievers with this interesting question: “If you knew that Christianity was true, would you become a Christian?” Sadly, many would not! Their real agenda is not searching for truth! Please consider again the testimony of atheist Dr. Thomas Nagel. The shocking subtitle of his book “Mind and Cosmos” is “Why the Materialistic Neo- Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False”. Dr. Nagel is transparent when he writes: “I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition and that it is responsible for much of the scientism and reductionism of our time. One of the tendencies it supports is the ludicrous overuse of evolutionary biology to explain everything about human life, including everything about the human mind …. This is a somewhat ridiculous situation …. It is just as irrational to be influenced in one’s beliefs by the hope that God does not exist as by the hope that God does exist.”

It is possible, of course, for someone to accidentally find a gold nugget. Hard work, however, is required if you want to find a lot of gold. Similarly, casual people may discover a nugget of truth now and then, but casual people cannot become Christians. Lukewarm people are repugnant to God (Rev. 3:16). Becoming a Christian is a serious matter like getting married. It requires forsaking all others and making a life time commitment to only one. This is precisely the kind of commitment required to become a Christian! God is a jealous God! He will not tolerate a Bride who claims to love Him while actually loving the world! If you want to find God, you will only do so when you search for Him with your whole heart (Jer. 29:13). Like searching for gold, this is not easy!

After Jesus fed the 5,000 the multitudes followed him to Capernaum. Jesus knew their interest was shallow and only based on receiving free food. He told them: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval”. Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works

God requires?” Jesus answered them: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (Jn. 6:27-29). Note! When they asked: “what must we do?”, Jesus explained that the “work of God” was to “believe in the one he has sent”. A right relationship with God is not easy, it involves loving Him with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mk. 12:30). This is the “work of God”!

The birth of your cousin Sarah Jane borders on the miraculous. Just before she was born her they could not detect her heart beat on the fetal monitor. Providentially, a surgical team was prepared to do a C-Section on another patient. Immediately, they rushed Nancy into the operating room and began cutting before the anesthesia had fully taken effect. The surgical team said it was the fasted C- Section they had ever performed. As a result Sarah did not suffer from brain damage. She was born a normal healthy girl weighing 7lbs. 7oz. She was the 7th grand child on both sides of the family. She was born on 7/17/87. Throughout her scholastic career Sarah has never made anything less than an A on her report cards, but she did earn many A+s. She was the valediction of her High School graduating class, and the top graduate in her department at DePaul University. The point is, even though Sarah has a good mind, such excellence is not an accident. It required a diligent search for truth! So does Christianity. Christians are to walk “very careful” or “accurately” (Eph. 5:15). The Greek word so translated is “akribos” from which we get our English word “acrobat”. Acrobats must be diligent to survive! So do Christians! The diligence Sarah manifested in school reflects the diligence we all need in the pursuit of spiritual truth.

Certainly you do not have to be a straight A student in order to be saved. Anyone can be saved who wants to! Not everyone has 5 talents. Some only have 2 talents, and others only 1. You do, however, still have to be diligent. The man who “did nothing” with his talent was condemned as “wicked and lazy” (Matt. 25:26). It is a mistake to think that you can be “lazy” about your commitment to Christ and still be saved.

Please focus all of your physical, mental, and spiritual energy on searching for the truth. It is more precious than gold. PTL! Jesus is that truth (Jn. 14:6), and the truth will set you free (Jn. 8:32).

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce