My Truth

People today often use the term that this is “My truth.” This way of saying this is unfortunate and can lead to all kinds of distortions, misunderstandings and corruptions. What they are saying, is that is what they believe. We don’t get to make up truth. What you believe will greatly affect how you live. How you live reveals what you truly believe.

What you believe may not be the truth. Just because you believe it does not mean it is based on the truth. It could be based on an illusion, a lie or a distortion that fits your lifestyle. It would be better to say this is what I believe rather than this is my truth. Truth can be very independent of us and often is.

What is the truth? Plato, Aristotle and Socrates sought the truth. Philosophically, they came closer to the truth than modern-day thinkers or those who refuse to think through foundational issues or are against the truth.

Truth is about reality, and it integrates you with reality. Faith as well integrates us with reality. It is not just something we profess but something we have entered into and live out by walking in reality. Faith is believing the facts and acting on them. Many people want to live an illusion to achieve the most pleasure out of life. Often, this approach is destructive for them and others. The truth is based on who God is, his character.

The Apostles were all martyred except for John for speaking the truth. Truth has never been that popular. Parts of the truth are, but the whole truth goes against the grain of natural human nature. The people who followed Jesus during the time of the great persecution were martyrs and were willing to die for the testimony of the truth in Jesus and their love of Jesus and the truth. They were seekers of the truth, and they were willing to pay the cost to be in the truth and follow the truth. Who is willing to pay the cost today?

Speaking about Jesus, the Bible says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Grace and truth—without the grace of God, we could never receive the truth. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Free to live in the fullness of the beauty of reality.

What are the basics we need to know to enter the truth? The basics is that man is guilty of sin, and his nature is corrupted by sin and has a strong inclination to sin. God’s plan of redemption from sin is through Jesus Christ, who can restore us to sanity, restore our soul and save us in heaven for eternity. He gives us a new nature. He can save us from the emptiness and destruction of sin and the destiny of all those who, without Christ, are destined to hell.

The rest of the truth is how we are to live by the Spirit, God's way in God’s Kingdom now and forever. These are ethical and principles of love. To receive this truth, you must humble yourself to the core of your being and surrender to God as Lord of your life. The root of pride must come crashing down. Not a popular view since man thinks he will save himself by thinking well of himself, apart from the truth.

Many are like Pontius Pilate, who asked, “What is the truth (John 18:38), but didn’t want the answer and washed his hands of it, and in a sense were saying,” I’ll just ignore the truth and live by my own truth.” However, that doesn’t make truth go away. You may just bury it and then must live with your own angst and emptiness. This is not the wise approach. Deep down, God is drawing us to the truth, and we were created to live in it. (John 12:32)

Truth will restore the image of God in our lives. We will be true to the goodness we were created to rest in and express. God transforms us from the inside out in conversion. It is a mighty act of God in which he raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. He restores us to be what we were created to be and what we long for.

People may not initially like the truth. Jesus said, “But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God” (John 8:40). The Eastern Philosopher said, “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you flee.” People who love their sin and love thinking they are their own God can be violent against the truth or just ignore it. (Romans 1:18)

The truth is found only in God. People may have parts of the truth that are helpful as well as in other religions, but there is only one way to the truth, and that is by being a participant in Jesus Christ and His truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). There is only one way to God, and that is in Jesus Christ, and you must receive the truth to enter in.

You may believe many things, but that doesn’t make them true. They may help you to live and perhaps live well, but they fall short of the fullness God wants for you and that you long for. What authority do you have for your beliefs? Certainly, reason and experience are factors, but without God’s revelation as recorded in the Bible, reason and experience are very limited. It makes sense to have an authority for belief, not just your own or the whims of our society. As the Bible says, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts” (Proverbs 21:2). Again, the Word of God states, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15).

C.S. Lewis, speaking about truth, said, “If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring civilized morality to savage morality, or Christian morality to Nazi morality." Mere Christianity, p. 13, C.S. Lewis.

Are you ready to enter into the truth? Truth is centred in a person, and to enter the truth, you must repent of your sin, including pretending to be your own God and receive the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. Ask the Lord to forgive you of your sin, and if you truly are repentant and believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, God will perform a miracle within you called “New Birth.” As God said in His Word, “Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) In Salvation, we enter the kingdom of God, and then we must learn to live it out.

There is my truth, and there is God’s truth. There is Satan’s truth, and in contrast, there is God’s truth, but in reality, there is only one truth, and that is God’s. Will you enter into the truth? Receive him today. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). Come in alignment with reality and truth, and place your faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and then you will experience the fullness of life.