What Is Truth?

“Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.” (John 18:38)

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There are so many of us who, like Pilate, ask this million-dollar question but walk away with no intention of hearing the answer. Here are some reasons why we don’t stick around to hear it:

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• The truth demands our undivided attention.

• The truth is perilous.

• The truth is obvious, so we think.

• The truth is too inconvenient.

• The truth will prove us wrong.

• The truth will force us out of our comfort zone.

• The truth is too extreme.

• The truth will isolate us from the crowds.

• The truth makes us face reality.

• The truth reveals the lies we enjoy.

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The truths that we so commonly believe in are generally subjective. Subjective truths are based on personal perspectives. We all have personal perspectives. However, personal perspectives are not based on facts, they are based on opinions. These opinions are developed from personal experiences that we have had throughout the years. There may be many people who share the same subjective truth we believe in, but that does not necessarily mean it is a verifiable claim. Many may say that Florida is the perfect state to live in, while others who have lost their homes and even their families to hurricanes will strongly disagree. Subjective truth is only true, according to the experience of individuals.

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Objective truths, however, are based on facts. It does not take into account the experience of any individual. Those who believe the sun is hot are making an objective claim. Those who disagree do not negate this fact which can be scientifically proven. Facts are truths that exist in spite of anyone’s opinion. They are indisputable and stand independently regardless of anyone’s belief. Objective truth is like the north star. It doesn’t move, it doesn’t change. We can block it from view, we can hide it, we can pretend it’s not there and forget it ever existed, but in the end, when we blow off the dust and check to see where it’s gone, it never moved. It was always there.

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In a world so full of information, it is difficult to point out what is true and what is false. We as human beings live in a reality that we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. This is how we can sense the world around us. It is with these five senses that we interact with our surroundings. God gave us these five senses so that we can appreciate His glorious creation. He gave us a mind so that we can process all that data acquired by these senses and store the data, transform the data into information, make choices about the information, and develop behaviors and habits based on all that information. However, all that information can be either true or false.

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Truth is like trying to catch a slippery bar of soap with wet hands. It’s not easy. Grasping the truth and fully understanding it takes work. God communicates with us all the time in many ways. However, we are bombarded with information to such an extent that God’s still small voice is drowned out. Our ears are listening attentively, but we forget that we have four other senses that are feeding our brain just as much as our ears. God gives us just enough information for us to process and fully understand. The enemy, however, feeds us so much information that we are overloaded to such an extent that we treat it all as noise. God’s still small voice is thrown in with the rest of the noise and we fail to recognize what is heavenly and what is worldly. Truth then becomes no different than the rest of the sensationalism that vies for our attention.

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Everyone seeks truth, but the truth that really matters is found in dusty shelves, secluded corners, abandoned storehouses, cobweb-filled libraries, and deserted ghost towns. Why? Because not everyone wants to hear the absolute truth. Absolute truth smashes us and pulverizes us and resets our brains. The truths we chase after are those that make us feel nice. We seek the truth that does not necessarily cause us to change something that we are accustomed to doing. We don’t want to hear anything that may force us to leave our homes, families, jobs, our sofas, our luxury cars, or anything like that. We only want to hear truths that we can pass along to the next person, the kind of truths that get a million hits on the internet and thousands of likes on Facebook. We enjoy the truths as collectibles, as a right of passage, and as an ascension to the next level. But truths that actually impact us as individuals and require us to change in some way are not so welcome.

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Many of us make a concerted effort to seek truth by reading the scriptures. We may feel a sense of safety because we are delving into God’s holy book. But reading the bible just to fill our minds with inspired information is not enough. The Bible is a guide to having a relationship with our creator. We can only understand the truth by allowing this truth to permeate our being. Truth is not just a word, it is a person. That person is Christ (John 14:6). To really seek truth, we must seek Christ. If we search for truth without Him, we will find a vast amount of information that will fill our brains but our hearts remain empty, our souls wander in a void of darkness.

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The Bible contains the absolute truth, but the world offers many “truths”. The “truths” we find in the world are a soup of deceit, disease, and defeat. It is an elevator that only goes in one direction, down. The Bible is a lifeline that reaches down to the lowest depths and pulls us in one direction, up. However, the Bible too is exploited by those who feel they can translate its writings in ways that they can easily manipulate. The Bible too becomes the world’s truth. It has become the principles of the church majority and the doctrines and customs that everyone is enamored with. So now even biblical truth has become a web of confusion. Even the Bible has become untrustworthy and subject to human interpretation where only the elite theologians and ministerial doctorates can explain the mysteries contained within. How then do we get the answer to “What Is Truth”?

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“My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding;” (Proverbs 2:1-6)

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Truth is a special reservoir of valued treasure. Treasure is not easily found laying out in the open field for anyone to stumble upon. It is intentionally hidden in secret places so that only those who perseveringly seek it can find it. It is not locked up in unbreakable safes where no one can gain access to it. It is there reserved for us only if we want it badly enough. If we simply want to know information, there is plenty of that scattered everywhere we go. It is spread out all around us like a buffet of delicious desserts begging to be consumed. But godly truth, the knowledge that surpasses understanding, is found in hidden storehouses reserved only for those who truly seek the Lord in humility and prayer. If this is the kind of truth we seek, we are part of a unique minority.

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If we are looking for godly truth, we need not move from the seat we are sitting on. The One who is the source of all the truths in the created universe is looking upon us, ready to pour it in abundance into our thirsty souls. If we want it bad enough, ask Him for it and He will not deny us. But understand, there is a high price for godly knowledge. When we receive this truth, we cannot store it away as we would with objects of high value. Truth must be consumed and it must become part of us. Diamonds have no appeal if they are hidden in secret chambers, they must be on display to appreciate their beauty. Truth can only be of value if it becomes part of our life. We must apply what we have learned and be a beacon to those around us. It’s not enough to just possess the truth, we must become truth. As the old adage says “You are what you eat.”, if we consume truth, we become truth. We are a reflection of the One we serve. Jesus is Truth and so are His followers. So it is a high responsibility to be a representative of truth. The more we know, the more we are accountable for. It is because of this that most people on this planet have so much “foolish” knowledge, information that is worth less than dust in the wind. But godly knowledge is like a lighthouse shining bright in the middle of a stormy sea. Godly Truth is the greatest desire of the meek and humble. It is a promise, it is a warning, it is a guidepost, it is a lamp unto our feet, it is freedom, it is a sword, it is a banner, it is our fountain of youth, it is life eternal, it is Christ Jesus personified.

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So, what then do we do with the precious truths we discover in God’s holy book? If we dig deep and discover these truths and we don’t apply them in our personal lives, it would be the same as playing marbles on the beach with highly expensive pearls and then leaving them there for the waves to take them away after the game is over. This is why godly truth is so rare these days. We find these beautiful pearls of wisdom and then we throw them back to the place where we found them.

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If we are hungry, we eat. But we cannot eat and eat and eat and never stop. Our belly can only fit so much food. Once a meal is digested, we are ready to consume another meal. The same should apply to the truths we are exposed to. We should take in godly truths a little bit at a time. Consume it, masticate it, digest it, and let it become part of our being. Then we are ready to take another chunk of truth and fully consume it as well. Truth never ceases and we will always hunger for it so let’s take our time and fully appreciate the full value of what we are ingesting. You can tell who is a fool by their foolishness, but you can tell who is wise by their wisdom.

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When we are filled with the riches from heaven, we must share them, let's not keep them to ourselves. Most people will not want to partake of what we are sharing because they are already saturated with their own portion of knowledge. But there will always be a few who will be happy to hear what we have to share. And it is for those few that we have been sent.

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Seek the knowledge of God. He is the Absolute Truth. This Truth never changes and is not impacted by anyone’s opinion. We are to internalize it and make it our own since it will set us free from the bonds of ignorance. Absolute Truth cannot be disputed, it cannot be erased, it cannot be silenced, it will always stand and never fall. It will be our worst enemy and our strongest ally. Let's make it our greatest secret and our greatest revelation. It will never disappoint because the expectations will always surpass our greatest imagination.

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