The Revelation of Jesus with Rick Sterling

One of the greatest lines in one of the greatest movies by Tom Hanks, one of the greatest character actors in film, that he said in the movie Forest Gump, was this; "Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get!". 

This statement was made by a completely innocent mentally challenged man, that saw life in the most simple of ways, and reacted to the challenges of life in a straightforward and guiless manner.

Yet as we all know, life may be like that box of chocolates, but it is not simple, nor is it straight forward. One of the stark realities that was present in the movie Forest Gump was that Forest believed whatever was said to him, in complete trust that what he had been told was the truth. The sad fact was that much of what Forest was told was a lie that he 'believed' was true. Forest indeed was without guile, an innocent; but he also had no filters that would allow him to separate truth from lies.

The disciples of Jesus were in some ways as was Forest Gump, in that they before they met Jesus they trusted what they had been taught by their religion, family, and cultural traditions was the truth. Under the instruction of their Master they found that for the most part what they 'thought' was true was lies.

Jesus taught and trained His disciples that it was up to them to discern Truth from lies, and to not be deceived (Matt. 24:4). This is a difficult lesson for all of us to learn, because it means the before we learn this lesson and take it to heart, ALL of us have been deceived. We have been taught that salvation comes not by learning and practicing the truth (John 3:19-21), but by believing that we are saved by grace through faith; and by having more faith we will not have to actually know the truth, we can simply BELIEVE that we know the truth, as did Forest Gump.