Coming to Fullness of Life Through Knowledge and Love
There are two, and only two, things that must increase within each of us throughout our lives. Those two things are knowledge of truth and charity. Knowledge and love are the most powerful faculties of every human person. Without growing in one or both, any individual person will not develop fully as he is intended to do so. Nothing is more important than these and, in fact, all good things in our lives flow directly from one or both of them.
As I prayed over Scripture last week, and prepared for a lecture on truth and charity, an amazing connection occurred to me. In John 8:32, while speaking to an audience of Jews, Jesus remarks, "and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Whatever is found to be truth (not just truthful, but truth itself) clearly effects liberation of the person who seeks it. So, finding truth leads to freedom.
Later, Jesus clarifies the object of the search for truth, the reality that seekers must seek. In John 14:6, during the Last Supper discourse, Jesus boldly proclaims to the apostle Thomas and the rest of the apostles gathered there, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life...." There can be no doubt: Jesus asserts that He is synonymous with truth. Truth is Him, a divine person. That give a whole new answer to Pilate's question at Jesus' trial: "What is truth" (John 18:8)? Indeed, it changes the questions, which ought to be "Who is truth?"
The same apostle who scribed those passages had many years to plumb the depths of the Mystery of Christ, and to pass on that wisdom to us. In his first letter, John provides a basic understanding of God's essence when he writes that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Later in that same letter, the Evangelist tells us something even more powerful. "There is no fear in love," he writes, "but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). So, God's very nature, which is perfect love, liberates a person from fear and its debilitating effects. Since Jesus is the Love-of-the-Father-Made-Flesh, it is entirely possible to conclude that it is Jesus who sets us free from the fear that would otherwise bind us. Thus, the same Person who is liberating Truth is also perfect Love that casts away fear.
Knowledge of the truth and charity are the two most powerful faculties of every human person because they are the two ways that Christ comes to us and transforms us. Without truth or charity, none of us can grow into the full expression self that Christ intends, which is ultimately to reveal His glory by our lives (see Galatians 2:20). When we grow in truth and charity, we grow into Christ. When we grow into Christ, all other good things follow.
As I prayed over Scripture last week, and prepared for a lecture on truth and charity, an amazing connection occurred to me. In John 8:32, while speaking to an audience of Jews, Jesus remarks, "and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Whatever is found to be truth (not just truthful, but truth itself) clearly effects liberation of the person who seeks it. So, finding truth leads to freedom.
Later, Jesus clarifies the object of the search for truth, the reality that seekers must seek. In John 14:6, during the Last Supper discourse, Jesus boldly proclaims to the apostle Thomas and the rest of the apostles gathered there, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life...." There can be no doubt: Jesus asserts that He is synonymous with truth. Truth is Him, a divine person. That give a whole new answer to Pilate's question at Jesus' trial: "What is truth" (John 18:8)? Indeed, it changes the questions, which ought to be "Who is truth?"
The same apostle who scribed those passages had many years to plumb the depths of the Mystery of Christ, and to pass on that wisdom to us. In his first letter, John provides a basic understanding of God's essence when he writes that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Later in that same letter, the Evangelist tells us something even more powerful. "There is no fear in love," he writes, "but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). So, God's very nature, which is perfect love, liberates a person from fear and its debilitating effects. Since Jesus is the Love-of-the-Father-Made-Flesh, it is entirely possible to conclude that it is Jesus who sets us free from the fear that would otherwise bind us. Thus, the same Person who is liberating Truth is also perfect Love that casts away fear.
Knowledge of the truth and charity are the two most powerful faculties of every human person because they are the two ways that Christ comes to us and transforms us. Without truth or charity, none of us can grow into the full expression self that Christ intends, which is ultimately to reveal His glory by our lives (see Galatians 2:20). When we grow in truth and charity, we grow into Christ. When we grow into Christ, all other good things follow.
