David Mathis at Desiring God:
"Mere truth won’t do it. Our souls desperately need the gospel.
“The grace of God in truth” (Colossians 1:6) is the shock that brings a dead soul to life, and the charge that keeps it living. The gospel is the gas that awakens and energizes the human heart, not mere truth — essential as truth is. Two plus two equals four — that’s true. It just doesn’t do much to jumpstart and drive a languishing soul.
It’s all wonderful and good to learn various truths from the Bible — and there are many crucial truths to learn — but we must not miss or minimize the one truth of the gospel, “the word of the truth” (Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5), the message so central and significant that the apostle calls it not merely a truth, but the truth, throughout the Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; 6:5; 2 Timothy 2:18, 25; 3:7, 8; 4:4; Titus 1:1, 14).
A Dozen Texts About the Truth
Recently we compiled two short lists of Bible verses that especially reward the effort to vigilantly stockpile in our hearts. One was ten passages for pastors to memorize cold; the other was ten one-verse summaries of the gospel for all. Here now are twelve carefully selected “gospel passages” that get at the very heart of the biblical good news in just two to four verses.
These short sections are ripe for memorization, and at least warrant some extended time of reflection. Build your life on them and around them, and let them shape and flavor everything. Soak in them — and soak them in."Read the rest ...