What is truth?
In today’s world, many wonder if there is really such a thing. It doesn’t seem to have any sort of foundation by which we can measure it. It is almost as if opinion or feelings equal truth. Every person seems to have their own "truth."
This vague understanding of truth is nothing new, though. It has been going on since the beginning of time. A very famous government official even questioned what truth was. His name was Pontius Pilate. He was the Roman governor who allowed Jesus to be sentenced to death. Here is a portion of the conversation he had with Jesus in John 18:37-38 WEB:
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born and for this reason I have come into the world that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
Jesus is saying that He is the One who will let us know what truth is. If He is rejected, then truth is rejected. And that's a great explanation of why so many don't understand truth today.
So is there really a dependable source of truth? The answer again is given by Jesus:
Sanctify them in Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17 WEB
Sanctify just means to "make holy" or to "purify." In this verse, Jesus is praying to the Father and asking Him to use the truth to purify those who believe in Him. Jesus is actually saying that the truth makes us clean. He then says what truth is—God’s Word. The Bible is our foundation for truth.
Unfortunately, many people (even some Christians) do not really believe that the Bible is where we get truth.
The Bible is truth. It is filled with fascinating predictions that have happened, (here's an earlier post that goes into a bit more detail about this) and scientific facts that we now know are true. In fact, there is so much truth from this Ancient Book that it would be impossible to list it all in this blog post.
The Bible is God’s Word, and He uses it to show truth to those who will take the time to read it. He has done this for me over and over again. You see, the Bible is like a mirror. It reflects the reader’s heart. It shows them what’s there and how to improve it and sanctify or clean it. It is no different than waking up in the morning and needing to look in the mirror in order to make ourselves presentable, so that we don't disgust the people around us.
Since we need to do this with our physical body, then it only makes sense that we need to do this with our hearts. The Bible is the ultimate self-help book. It helps us to take a look at our hearts and clean up what is necessary to make us have better relationships with others and with God. There have been many times when I have read the Bible, and it has shown me what I have done to hurt someone and how to fix the problem. It has shown me how to handle when someone has hurt me. It has also taught me about who God is, and all about His character traits.
I would like to tell you a personal, true story of how God literally talks to those who read His Word:
When my older daughter, Jamie, went off to college ten hours away, I was crushed. I did not want her to go that far. I knew that if she did, she may never come back.
During this time, we hadn’t had a dog for a few years, so my husband, Ron, decided that it would be a good time to get one. I did not want the responsibility of a dog, but he insisted. I gave in saying that if we got one, I would like a small one so that it would not be so hard to take care of.
Usually we would just go to the pound and pick one out, but this time it was different. Ron decided to purchase a dog from a breeder. He found a lady who sold toy fox terriers. She had a dog on sale for $350. Even though this was cheap for that type of dog, it was still an outrageous price to me. We had never paid more than $70 for a dog from the pound which included neutering and shots. This dog still needed all that, so we were in to almost $500. I couldn’t get over the price. It really bothered me. We had extra expenses of a daughter in college, so spending this kind of money seemed outrageous... but we bought the dog anyway.
Our new puppy was the tiniest, cutest little thing who could barely stand up in the grass. When we got him, he was about the size of those little Ty beanie babies that were so popular at the time. Anyway, we needed to think of a name for this little guy. While Ron and I were thinking up names like Duke and Spot, my younger daughter Jenn came up with the name Titus. She knew it was the name of a book in the Bible plus she could call him Ty baby like the beanie babies. I thought that was so cool, plus Titus means “of the giants” which made it even better. So we named him Titus.
A couple of months went by and I was still feeling guilty about the cost of Titus. I don’t know why. It was just a luxury that I wasn’t used to. I felt like God might not be pleased with the "waste of money." But I also noticed that Titus was becoming a real comfort for me. He was taking away my sadness of Jamie being gone because he needed so much care. He was so small that I literally would have to help him go outside because the wind would blow him over when he was crouching. I would have to hold him up!
Still focusing on the cost, I convinced myself that I had been selfish and could have used the money for something else. One day, I told my mom that even though Titus had helped me so much, I still felt guilty about how expensive he was. She told me to let it go, so I decided to pray about it and let it go. The very next day, I picked up the Bible and read this:
Nevertheless, God that comforts those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus. 2 Corinthians 7:6 KJV
My eyes popped, and I laughed out loud. God just let me know that Titus was a gift from Him!
How can the Bible be anything other than the word of God, the source of truth, and a necessity for our lives? God, who is involved with nations and rulers and everything else, let me know that He even cares about my concerns, problems, and questions.
If He cares like this for me, how much more for you?
Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NIV
Questions:
Do you have something in your life that you need to give to God?
How has God talked to you through the Bible?