Truth can be an annoying word can’t it? So often it’s something that’s argued over, that’s fought over, and must be defended. The truth! The truth is often defined as whatever it is that I believe that I must try to get you to believe. The truth is that Jesus is the only way and if you don’t believe this then you’re living in lies or falsehood. The truth is that I am rigth and you are wrong. Truth. Stephen Colbert has coined the word “truthiness” to mean something that people know to be true instinctively or from the gut. The famous line spoken by the Truth himself “know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” can often get misinterpreted as “knowing the right things, ideas, and concepts will bring freedom.” Is that true? Is that accurate?
While much of that might be a good description of truth, it is incomplete. When Jesus was talking about being set free by the truth it was within the context of obedience, of action. “Knowing” the truth might be better said as “living out of the truth”. The reality is that there are things that are true of you, of me, of our world, our or experience, of God, of sin, of…there are things that are true of all those things that we ignore (by choice or by ignorance) and instead live out of a lie. The truth is that God will provide all I need, but act as if God has promised to give me all I want. The truth is that I am a beautiful creation intended for creating more beauty in my world, but I act as if I was created for self fulfillment and for destroying the world around me. The reality is that having sex with multiple partners destroys the precious inner self we were created with, but we live as if temporary pleasure is all that matters. The truth is that we were created for community, but instead we try to isolate ourselves from others. The truth is that every single person is loved by God, but I act as if there are certain people whose choices are so twisted that they should not be loved by me or anyone else let alone God. There is so much truth that we need to not just choose to believe but choose to experience.
The truth doesn’t necessarily need to be fought over, argued about, and defended but rather needs to be experienced, shared, given, lived out, and embraced.
Are you living out of the truth?