There is a confusion these days about a thing called truth. It is that cliché of, “How can you tell if a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.” But it shouldn’t be that way. Jesus said for us to let your yea be yea and your nay, nay. And anything more is what comes from evil. (Matthew 5:37)
Truth has become a relative thing instead of the immutable thing it should be. The day of the scientific method is quickly falling behind us. I have been told many times that whilst I believe something, that it is just “my truth” and it is not for the person I am talking to. I’m not sure how we got to this point in our world, that “truth” can become relative. As one commentator put it, ”We should question the answer and even the question itself.”
But not being able to tell what truth is is not a new problem. Even in Jesus’ trial, after Jesus had said His task was to tell the truth, Pilot asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38) One of the great movie lines is from “A Few Good Men” as Jack Nickolson uttered the line, “You can’t handle the truth.” As we digest truth, both what it is and how overwhelming it can be, we have to come to a sense of what is right and wrong as well.
I know I find great comfort in my faith journey as I hold to the truth of the scriptures. It tells me Jeus is the way, the truth and the life. He is all I have and yet all I need.
I have been preaching through 1 Peter and the study I was doing took me to a small book in the Bible, Jude. Jude put truth in this perspective, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed … ” (Jude 3–4)
For people who have faith, it is about remaining true to the message of the gospel, to the principle of truth, whether others agree or not. It doesn’t mean we get nasty in our defense of truth, but rather that we are passionate in our proclamation. Earnest is the word. But there is also the “once delivered” part that makes the point that truth is true once it has been established as true. If you get your “truth” from the wrong source, it won’t be true.
So, that is a wee intro, we’ll need more time and space to really get it all discussed. But we must consider what we believe and why. Where do we derive truth from and how does it change how we live our lives?
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