Whacking us Over the Head and about the Body with the Sledgehammer of Truth is God’s Methodology of Salvation

GOD IS THE ARTIST WHO PAINTS THE MASTERPIECE OF REALITY ON THE CANVAS OF OUR RATIONALITY IN THE PIGMENTS OF TRUTH. The methodology of God’s rescue plan is to put us in intimate contact with the truth - both the sweet truth and the sour truth. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The truth is the sledgehammer that shatters the illusions that distort our perception of reality as the blow of a hammer shatters a pane of glass. The truth is the fuel of our rationality. When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is fouled by a lie, our rationality leads us astray (John 8:44). Rationality, not obedience, steers the ship. Our faculty of obedience is broken. It has been broken since the age of Adam and Eve. God does not stop executing his rescue plan to fix our broken faculty of obedience. He bypasses it. His appeal is an appeal to our rationality. He appeals to us with the truth - not with words about the truth but with the truth itself. A description of the truth in words is a poor substitute for a close encounter with the truth itself. Descriptions of the truth do not pack the same persuasive punch as intimate contact with the truth itself. Putting our fingers into the flames carries magnitudes more persuasive force than a warning that the flames are hot no matter how wordy is the warning. Likewise, meeting the prodigious love of God face-to-face is more powerful than merely telling us about it. Close encounters with the truth itself jolt us from our slumber. They open our eyes. They clarify our perception of reality. Close encounters with the truth are knockout punches. They gobsmack us. They knock us off our horse (Acts 9:4). They rattles our cage. They hit us like a ton of bricks. They take our breath away. The truth is the strongest force on earth.