Truth is fundamental to human existence. It makes things work, just as lies tear things down. All civilizations and cultures have held it in the highest regard – considered necessary for keeping order within society. And though these statements may seem obvious, truth is – and has always been – a rarity.
Thankfully, the truth is given in the revealed Word. James equates the Word with truth. “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all He created,” he writes.
Paul writes to Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
John peppers his Gospel with the word “truth.” John writes that the Christ “came from the Father, full of grace and of truth.” For emphasis, three verses later John tells us that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
In chapter 14, John quotes our Redeemer proclaiming, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus refers to the “Spirit of truth” in chapter 16, and in the next chapter, Jesus intercedes for us praying, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
And earlier, in 4:24, Christ tells the Samaritan woman that we are to “worship in spirit and in truth.”
“Small is the gate and narrow the road to life,” says Jesus. It is found by “only a few,” He tells us in the Sermon on the Mount. So it should come as no surprise that truth is a rare item in this world where it is rejected and ridiculed.
For the competing social and political power structures of the world, “truth” is, unfortunately, up for grabs – often to the highest bidder or to the one with the most fire power. And their so-called truth is no longer objective, but often presented as the result of subjective knee-jerk emotional reactions, defined by any given segment within a society. So truth is seen as subjective and relative.
And even worse, if that were possible, we lately hear more and more that one must live “their truth,” as opposed to objective reality.
Because it is found only by a relative few, truth cannot be established by majority vote, for the world stands opposed to it.
Paul writes, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” Because of the Spirit in us – our acceptance of the Word – Paul goes on to say, “we have the mind of Christ.”
Those who reject the Spirit – deceived and deceiving – create for themselves a “house of cards,” ready to collapse by the breath of God.
But we, rather, need to be encouraged by the word of truth. We need to share it more and more as that great Day draws near, bringing hope to all who are drowning in a sea of lies.
Our Scriptures contain concrete and specific truths given for all humanity for all time. These prescriptions tell of our relationship with God and how we are to treat others – doing to others as we would have them do to us. God’s abundance of truth revealed includes prescriptions addressing the sanctity of life and the nature of human sexuality.
As God’s people, we are chosen to call others “out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
In the face of lies which defy the truth embedded in every God-created individual, God’s people must stand for His truth. And above all, as we respond in love, we need to remember that “love rejoices in the truth.”
Amen…amen…and AMEN!
Thanks again for engaging, Jim.