What is Truth?
In recent years truth seems like an impossible word to define. But it isn’t. Webster's dictionary defines truth as that which is in accordance with facts or reality. Simply put, it is not ambiguous or what someone has concocted in their mind. Truth will always align with reality. It is, in many ways, fixed, foundational. We hear a lot of verbiage referring to “my truth.” But there really isn’t your truth or my truth. There is only the truth and then your opinions.
So how do we know what is true? Maybe the question we should be asking is not what is true but who is the truth? Let me offer you another explanation.
John 18:33-38 details a conversation between Jesus and Pontius Pilate.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
This is, by far, my favorite passage of scripture. The living embodiment of truth stood before all humanity, and they did not recognize it. They brushed it off as though it was negotiable. And much like our current culture, they crucified, canceled, and silenced the truth. But Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life. With one touch, He can heal, restore, and redeem that which was broken.
Keep in mind that if you are truly committed to surrendering your life to God's will and word, it will cost you something. Christine Caine once said, “you will watch a generation of Christians- of Christians- set the Bible aside in an attempt to become more like Jesus. And stunningly it will sound completely plausible. This will be perhaps the cleverest of all the devil’s schemes in your generation. Sacrifice Truth for Love’s sake. And you will rise, or fall based upon whether you will sacrifice one for the other. Will you have the courage to live in the tension of both Truth and Love?” As Christians, we are called to speak truth in love, not abandon one for the other. Our love should always be rooted in the truth, or it is false love, what Allie Beth Stuckey calls, toxic empathy. But this will leave us on the outs with many, so we acquiesce for the fear of being ostracized by the community we live in while watching those we love die in their own sin.
For me, I want the gospel with all its truths and inconveniences. Not a counterfeit, obsessed with popularity, niceness!! People are dying and miserable and we’re so worried about not being liked that we won’t say anything!!! People need the truth. They need the real Jesus. Not the lamb petting, daisy picking hippie, but the culture defying, uncomfortable, life transforming, nuclear Jesus. Where in the scripture does it say that our highest moral calling is to be perceived as nice? It doesn’t. There is no 11th commandment that says thou shall be nice. We are to repent, believe, and obey!! This Easter season, are you willing to accept some hard Biblical truths expressed through God's word? All you must do is pick up your Bible, start reading, and ask God to reveal Himself to you in his word.