Midweek Message: Know the Truth

John 8:31-32 To those who had previously believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (NIV)

Jesus faced a lot of opposition throughout His ministry, especially from some of His earliest followers who eventually decided to walk away from Him. In doing so, they rejected His teaching which was based on truth and love, and then they fiercely confronted Him with their doubts about His character, as well as their own retrenched beliefs.

Christ’s truth challenged His people, just as it still does for all who call themselves Christians today. He never said that believing in Him or following His way was going to be easy, but He did insist that what He was preaching and teaching was the God-given truth. People back then relied on many of their traditions and sacred texts to formulate their own ideas about what was important and true. When Jesus brought a new understanding of what those traditions and texts really meant, His ideas were initially treated as being novel and inventive, but eventually they were seen as being too radical and dangerous for regular religious people.

We are still faced with the same challenges, especially in our truth-forsaken society which relies more on what we feel rather than what is factual. A culture which insists that what people feel to be true as more important than what is actually true, can be easily manipulated by charlatans and liars, conmen and fanatics. Such a society enslaves itself to the whims and wiles of totalitarian leaders, as well as their henchmen and women, whose only purpose is to increase their power by spreading lies, causing chaos, creating division, and fomenting fear. This is why Jesus taught both His supporters and opponents that knowing the truth was essential to their freedom – lies took away their liberty whereas the truth kept them free.

Point to ponder: How does Christ’s truth constantly challenge me?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life which we all should seek and emulate. Forgive us for being duped by leaders who lie. Help us to follow and practice Your teaching which counters fear with faith and lies with love. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is a Scottish Presbyterian pastor now living in Knoxville, Tennessee.

August 21 devotion - What is Truth?

Psalm 34:12-13 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. (NIV)

            Someone recently said that ‘Truth is not truth,’ which although it sounds totally absurd, it is actually a reflection of the times we live in. We all operate with our own perceptions of what is real and we color truth with what we want to believe. For instance, if you have two people standing at opposite ends of a chalk drawing of the number nine, one will declare it to be “9” while the other person sees it only as “6.” Both believe their perception to be absolutely correct and from where they are standing, both declarations are true. So long as both of them stay where they are, they will not even consider the other person’s viewpoint, even though it is just as valid. Only when one or both of them decide to look at things from the other side will they see the unbelievable truth: both of them are correct!

            Truth is something that is sacred in the eyes of God and, in the end, it is His perception that decides what is absolutely and eternally true. We may think differently from Him because God gives us the gift of free will, so we seem to believe that our experience in life is what really counts. However, our time on Earth is so short compared to God’s immortality. We last for only a moment, so how can we finitely contend against what God knows to be eternally true?

            To deliberately go against the truth is to live a lie and the Bible constantly tells us that lying is not good for our health, our souls, our community, and our faith. This is different from perception – a lie is something that is deliberately told to destroy the truth. For instance, if a third person comes up to the two others who are arguing over the 9 or 6 and stridently says that the number is actually ‘3,’ that would be a falsehood. If that person kept declaring it to be ‘3’ loudly and long enough to confuse the other two until they accepted his word, then all of them would be accepting a lie. In the 20^th century, Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot used this technique and brutally bullied their people into accepting lies which consequently caused the deaths of millions of people across the world. Liars make the worst kind of leaders because eventually they destroy themselves and the people perish under their control.

            As Christians, we are meant to be religious people who side with the Truth and contend against lies, especially when falsehoods disrupt, diminish, and destroy our communities. If we, of all people, accept and spread lies, then we are no longer servants of Christ – the Way, the Truth, and the Life – but have sadly become purveyors of our own prejudices and traders in untruth.

Point to ponder

How do I discern the truth? Am I guilty of passing on lies?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us the gift of discernment so that we may honor You by seeking, knowing, and advancing the truth. Teach us that lies destroy our humanity and falsehoods can even wreck our faith. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Come and join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 11:00 AM. You will be made very welcome 😊