Day 345: Hosea 4-6; Revelation 1

"Hear the word of the LORD, people of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge of God in the land!" (Hosea 4:1, CSB)

What ultimately matters to God is our relationship with Him. His judgment against Israel applies to the day in which we live. Reject truth and you reject God. So vital is truth that Jesus made this unequivocal claim: "I Am the Truth" (John 14:6). In God's Word truth, faith and faithfulness are all linked without separation. If you do not have truth that is absolute, then there is nothing and no one that can ultimately be believed and believed in. Truth enables us to embrace what is right and reject what is wrong...to abandon the lie. Truth and trust are vitally connected. Trust in Truth is embracing Love. Love (steadfast, faithful, covenant love) is the essence of Who God is. In the New Testament, 'faithful love' becomes agape-love (John 3:16). While truth and trust are the basis of right relationship, the foundation is love. In our recent reading of 1 John, we were repeatedly reminded that God is love. To live in a love-relationship with God means that love becomes the foundation of all of our relationships. This is the knowledge about which Hosea speaks. It is the personal and intimate relationship that grows out of love experienced and embraced. To know God truly is to love Him and live in obedience to the truth. What God wants is our hearts. If He has our hearts, we live by the truth, out of love and in deepening knowledge of our great I AM.