Buying Or Selling Truth

 

 "Buy the Truth" - Get it! Acquire it! Obtain it! Possess it!
Is this how you feel about God's Word in your life?

What means are you undergoing to possess it?
 

 

Proverbs 23:23 exhorts us to - "Buy the Truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding."
                                                                             

J. C. Ryle said - "We have the Truth, and we need not be afraid to say so."

John Hus said - "O faithful Christian, search the Truth, hear Truth, learn Truth, love Truth, speak the Truth, hold the Truth till death."
                                                                                      

The question we must ask ourselves is - Are we buying the Truth or selling it?

                                                                     

We are doing one or the other but not both.

                                                                         

How valuable is God's Divine Instruction in your life?

Is its price far above the price of rubies( Proverbs 8:11)?
Is it better unto you than "thousands of gold and silver"(Psalm 119:72)?
Do you love it above gold, even fine gold(Psalm 119: 127)?
Do you incline your ear unto it, apply your heart to it, cry after it, and lift up your voice for it(Proverbs 2:2-3)?
Are you seeking for it as silver and searching for it as for hid treasures(Proverbs 2:4)?
Do you consider it as the principal thing in your life(Proverbs 4:7)?
Can you honestly say with Solomon - "How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!"(Proverbs 16:16)

                                                                                                                            

What hinders you from buying the Truth?

Is it because you don't feel that you have sufficient means to purchase it?

                                                                                                      

Read what the Prophet Isaiah said - "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."(Isaiah 55:1)

                                                                                                                           

What is needed is not money or man's price. What is needed is a hunger and thirst for Truth - a determination and consecration to sell all in order to obtain it - "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."(Matthew 13:44)

                                                                                                                                    

How desperate are you for God's Instruction in your life?

To what means or to what measure will you go to purchase it?

How important is it in your Walk with God?

Carl F. H. Henry once said - "Truth famine is the ultimate and worst of all famines."

Matthew Henry, the renowned Bible commentator, said - "Without Truth there is no goodness."

C. H. Spurgeon, the Great Preacher, also said - "It is more to God's Glory that the world should be conquered by the force of Truth than by the blaze of miracles."

And again he said - "It is in the way of Truth that real peace is found."
 

                                                                                

God's Truth definitely has an effect on our lives. We can never know His peace or experience His goodness unless we exalt and uphold it. Also, it is the only way that we are enabled to rightly "walk the walk" and "talk the talk" before the heathen in this sinful and adulterous generation. No one can live this Christian life without His Wisdom, Instruction(correction, reproof, warning, restraint, discipline), and Understanding(knowledge, meaning, discernment).

                                                                                                 

Proverbs 23 illustrates the major results God's Truth brings into our lives - "My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things...Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way."(Proverbs 23:15-16, 19)
                                                                                                              

It brings Great Joy to Father God to see His children walking in Truth(2 John 4; 3 John 3-4).

When they are doing so, they act wisely.
Like David, they behave themselves "wisely in a perfect way."(Psalm 101:2)

They -

...walk within their house with a perfect heart(Psalm 101:2)
..."set no wicked thing" before their eyes(Psalm 101:3)

...hate the work of those who turn aside from following the Lord(Psalm 101:3)

...do not associate with the wicked or with liars(Psalm 101:4, 7).

                                                                                                                 

Because of the Wisdom of God's Wonderful Truth being stored in their hearts, their "lips speak right things"(Proverbs 23:16). Their heart is guided continuously in the right way - the straight and narrow way. Their course of life follows on the path of righteousness and holiness. Their lives are totally transformed.  

                                                                              

William Jenkyn said - "Truth transforms as well as informs." How true that statement is!

                                                                                                                                  

What are you doing with God's Truth today?

Are you buying it at whatever cost or selling it for this world's wares?

                                                                                                                   

It will cause you to make wise decisions, behave wisely, and speak right and appropriate things.

It will control the emotions, passions, and appetites of your heart and lead you in the way everlasting.

 

Are you convinced of its priceless value?
What will you do about it?