When Truth is Hard to Find
Have you ever played the party game “Two Truths and a Fib”? My LIFE Group played it recently. Each person would tell three sentences about herself, but only two would be true. The object of the game was for the group to decide which two sentences were true.
The trouble with this game—and in life—is that it’s not always easy to discover the truth.
What is Truth?
John 18:33-40 records that Pilate had trouble distinguishing the truth. The truth of Christ’s kingship was not apparent to him. He did not recognize Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, as He proclaims in John 14:6. Jesus later declares in verse 37 that He came into the world to testify to the truth and that everyone on the side of truth listens to Him. This statement confused and confounded Pilate who responds in verse 38, ”What is truth?”
That question still haunts many today: “What is truth?” A better question is “Who is truth?” Many of the Jews also did not recognize Jesus as the embodiment of truth as they clamored for Him to be crucified in verse 40 of this passage. They—along with Pilate—could not fathom what it meant for Him to truly be the truth amidst our troubles in this world.
Truth to Which We Cling
We often do not recognize that Jesus is the ultimate truth amidst our troubles today. This is an unprecedented time in our world. We have spent two years under the siege of a horrible, deadly virus. We have experienced a restrictive lifestyle and loss. Yet do we really know the truth about this virus? Don’t we still hear conflicting information? Scientists are working hard to discover the truth, but they have not arrived yet.
Our lives can be troubled by weather. Floods, droughts, tornados, and other weather patterns seem to be ravaging our country and our world at an increasingly greater rate. Certainly these weather patterns are brought about by God’s power, but do we always recognize His power in these “natural disasters”? Do we recognize and cling to God’s truth when physical storms threaten? When troubles threaten to impact our very lives?
The God Who Still Redeems
And now, we see brutal fighting between countries far away. We wonder how the terrible troubles of those in warring countries affect you and me. We hear constantly conflicting reports from the war zones. Do we know the real truth? Does it matter? What is the truth? Does God see our troubles? Does He care? Are His power and truth working amidst our troubles—disease, wars, and destructive weather events?
Of course He cares! He is active in our world amidst our troubles. He is still redeeming His world and His people.
Set Free in Truth
God’s truth is revealed in His Word and in His Son. His Word is unchanging truth; it’s redeeming truth, saving truth, and protecting truth, even when circumstances around us may tempt us to think otherwise. Jesus—the Word of truth—is our faithful Anchor to cling to, even in the midst of trouble.
It is a fact that in this world we will have trouble, which Jesus Himself shares with us in John 16:33. We can take comfort in these words of Jesus recorded in John 8:32: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This is what it means for Christ to be the truth amidst our troubles.