Finding Truth . Photo: Dreamstime We moved across town a few years ago and with us came not only all of our furniture, clothing, and dishes, but our pet cat named Puddin’. Knowing that our mackerel tabby feline might want to wander back “home” to our previous house, we kept him inside for a couple of weeks before letting him out. But alas, he disappeared. He came back once, and then didn’t come back at all. A few months later the new owners of our old house called and said they saw a cat visiting them on the back porch and wondered if it was our old friend. We gladly told them yes, but they were never successful at nabbing Puddin’. One day they called, about a year later, and said they saw our cat down the street at a gas station near the garbage dumpster. I quickly drove over to catch Puddin’. When I pulled into the mini-market, I was happy to see our long lost pet sitting warily behind the store. I called to him but he just ran away. So I went into the store and purchased a hot dog and came back out and Puddin’ immediately came over to eat the bits of meat I tossed toward him. Finally, I had him right at my feet, so I reached down to pick him up, but he quickly dashed away. I was confused. Why didn’t our cat come to me? We’d had owned this cat since he was a kitten. The store owner suggested I lure the cat into the store and capture him in a card board box. The trick worked, except as soon as I slipped the box over the cat, he exploded. I eventually released him in our garage and both my wife and I tried to befriend him, but no go. Wild Feline The wild feline I captured looked identical to our beloved lost pet. We even compared photos of Puddin’ with this alley cat counterpart and found the similarities astonishing. A friend, who worked in an animal shelter, said to us one day, “If this really was your cat, he wouldn’t have acted this way.” We finally accepted the truth. When we go looking for truth, we can sometimes think we’ve found the real thing, but might be mislead. Even when something looks and sounds authentic, it doesn’t mean it’s the real thing. That is especially true with the Bible. People can make statements with a rich, confident tone of voice, but upon biblical investigation, we may find out otherwise. Even if the similarities are surprisingly close, we must be careful. Jesus gave us some helpful advice when looking for truth. “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17). A genuine seeker who is willing to obey truth will be led to truth, even if it is hard to let go of your “pet” idea.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 08:59:12 +0000
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