Looking to the Lord for Truth

The Book Our Mothers Read

John Greenleaf Whitter

We search the world for truth; we cull

The good, the pure, the beautiful,

From graven stone and written

scroll,

And all old flower-fields of

the soul;

And, weary seekers of the best,

We come back laden from

the quest,

To find that all the sages said

Is in the Book our mothers read.

Isn't that how it is? People are looking everywhere for the truth, everywhere but the Bible, where it really is. Think about it:

"The good, the pure, the beautiful" - doesn't it remind you of people trying to look up to celebrities; using their latest diet, following their every move in the grocery store magazines, making sure their clothes match up with theirs, doing everything they do?

It reminds me of all the little (and even not so little) girls that are crazy about Hannah Montana. At first, she seemed like a very innocent girl having some fun being the new Disney hit, but after a while showed herself as to be not so innocent and childlike. I whole heartily agree with what Lady Jess said in her post about Hannah Montana - Miley Cyrus:

"This...just goes to show that we should not have role models that are
in Hollywood, and that we should not allow our children, or siblings, to
have role models in Hollywood."

Looking up to "The good, the pure, the beautiful" is never going to work, nor is searching for truth among them.

"From graven stone and written scroll" - We've got to be careful of all the "insightful" books out there trying to tell us how we should live our lives. Even Christian ones. Our life instruction should be based off the Bible and our immediate authority.

Like the writer states, many people search for truth within themselves. Or, you could just say it nicely like he does: "To search the world for truth...And all old flower-fields of the soul". The whole new agey thing is all about that. Searching for the god within you, what's OK for you is OK for you - you know what I'm talking about. You can't -

A. Search for the god within you because there isn't one. Unless you've received the Holy Spirit, all there is some flesh that tries to pull you away from the Lord, and a conscience that can diminish all together after ignoring it over and over while doing wrong things.

And B. Say that "what's OK for you is OK for you" because it's not! There is only one very narrow path to follow that God has set before us. Just because someone is doing what they think is right (aka: searching for the truth within themselves) doesn't mean it is. Only God knows the truth and has spoken it in His Word.

Now, let us hope and pray that many people will turn to God after looking to all these empty things, or, even better, before going on this fruitless search!