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11

RESPONSIBILITY AS TO THE MAINTENANCE

OF THE TRUTH

F. E. Raven

It is the responsibility of every one of us to maintain the truth.

We do not maintain the truth by merely clinging tenaciously to

the terms of the truth, but by being ourselves the exponents of

the truth. We ought to be prepared to surrender everything,

whatever we, have in this life, the dearest ties and

associations, whatever honour or glory or position we may

have, in order to be exponents of the truth which the Lord has

given us to maintain.

It is very easy to justify having things agreeable here—and

God may allow us to enjoy many things here—but they may

readily be too prominent with us and, when they are, the truth

has a second place. Which, I ask, should have the first place,

the things of this life or the truth?

Every right-minded person would allow that the truth is to be

the first thing and we are at all costs to maintain it, and the

divine way to maintain it is by ourselves being the expression

of it and everything has to be subordinate to that, so I say the

less a man has in this world the better. If we have confidence

in God, God can care for His people, and He is not limited to

human methods … We often lack in piety. Faith is that we

have the light of God’s things; piety is that we bring God into

our things. If you make the truth the first concern and are here

entirely for the Lord, the Lord will own you, and He will provide

for your things; we have no need to be anxious on that score.

For myself, I can say that is the line I would seek to follow.

(Vol. 2, pp.268, 269)