Monthly Archive: June 2014

7 Reasons Why Truth Really Matters

A comic tells the story of how one night when they were kids, he and his brother kept jumping on the bed despite their father’s repeated warnings. Of course, the predictable happens: the bed finally breaks. Startled, Dad rushes to their room, sees the broken bed and demands an explanation.

“Dad, a strange man came through the window while we were trying to sleep. And he kept jumping on the bed ‘til it broke. And then he ran away.”

“But you don’t have a window!”

“Oh, he brought that with him!”

It’s not hard to imagine what that father could have thought about his kids at that moment. Quick thinkers, yes. Creative, yes. Clever? Maybe. Smart? No way!

What does our Heavenly Father think of us when we lie? We might be as quick-thinking, creative and clever as we want to be, but only a fool thinks he can fool God. Of course, any of us can stumble and lie, and most of us aren’t actually thinking, “Oh, I can fool Almighty God.” But still, only a fool forgets that God is always watching.

Okay, sure, the truth hurts sometimes. The truth tends to expose fault, error or weakness, and when it exposes us, who really wants to face it? Whether by denying it, twisting it, covering it up, or pretending it’s not important, we’re all intimidated by it at some level. It’s okay to “keep it 100” in life…but not so much when it messes with our comfort zones.

Still, we can’t get away from the fact that truth really does matter, and only the fool thinks it doesn’t.

It’s one thing not to know the truth, or to not be aware of the truth in any given situation or context. It’s entirely something else to not value the truth. Only a fool devalues the truth. Whereas the wise person will appreciate the truth by seeking it out, loving it, keeping it close and standing up for it, the fool will ignore it, deny it, twist it, embellish it, pervert it or in some other way reject it.

Does this sound too strong? It’s only to arrest our (I’m including myself) attention to just how much, and why, truth really matters. If we are like those kids in that crucial moment of truth-or-lie decision, and God is like their father demanding accountability, is it not foolish for us to think we can pull the wool over our Father’s eyes? Is it not foolish to think we can avoid accountability by lying before the very One who already knows the truth? Is it not foolish and prideful to think our cleverness provides more security than our Father’s own loving mercy?

But the real truth is, there’s so much more to truth than just the painful side of it once it catches up with us. With a biblical understanding of “truth” – a word used at least 234 times in God’s Word – we will actually want to seek it out in every area of belief, attitude, purpose and conduct of life:

  • Truth in heart attitude.
  • Truth in daily living.
  • Truth in relationships.
  • Truth in serving.
  • Truth in good works.
  • Truth in worship.
  • Truth in witnessing.
  • Truth in Christian doctrine.
  • Truth in one’s own faith in Jesus Christ.

We need a more balanced understanding. The truth hurts sometimes, yes. But it also blesses and, if nothing else, God hates the alternative. Here are seven reasons why truth – God’s truth – really matters:

1. God’s Word, the Bible, is Truth.
Jesus said to the Father in heaven, Your word is truth (John 17:17b). The Bible is God’s truth because it consists of the inspired thoughts, words, commandments and prophecies from the mind and heart of Almighty God Himself; and it is profitable for equipping us to live godly in an ungodly world (2 Timothy 3:16-17ff). In light of that, the Bible is clearly mankind’s only reliable guiding help for every aspect of life as a follower of Jesus. That’s why reading the Bible is foundational to knowing how to – and that you can – operate in the truth with confidence.

2. Truth is trustworthy.
The Lord is our God of truth who cannot lie (Deuteronomy 32:4; Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:1-2). Everything He does is true and consistent (Psalm 19:9; 25:10; 33:4; 57:10; 85:10; 89:14; 96:13; Isaiah 25:1). His truth endures forever (Ps 117:2; 119:160; 146:6). How comforting to know that God’s truth is one of the most powerful things we can lay hold to in this life.

3. Truth saves us.
John 17:17 infers that believers are sanctified by the truth. Plus, Jesus told Pilate, Everyone that is of the truth hears My voice (John 18:37). Why His voice? Because not only is Jesus the very embodiment of truth (John 1:14), He is the only embodiment of it because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Therefore, only those who accept Jesus accept the Truth, and only those who accept the Truth receive salvation onto eternal life (John 14:6 with John 1:14,17; 16:13; Exodus 34:6).

4. Truth protects us.
Truth is the very first piece of the whole armor of God that Christians are to put on (Ephesians 6:14-17). Also, the upright person who speaks the truth in his heart will abide with the heavenly Father (Psalm 15:1-2). Even the greatest kind of love, love that never fails, protects our joy because it rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6; Zechariah 8:16; John 4:24; Romans 2:8; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; 1 Timothy 4:6; 6:35; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 4:3-4; 1 Peter 1:22).

5. God hates lying.
Our Heavenly Father literally hates the alternative to truth: lying (e.g., Psalm 119:163; Proverbs 12:22). And so should we (Proverbs 13:5). That’s because no lie is of the truth (1 John 2:21), because the devil, in whom there is no truth, is the father of lying (John 8:44), and God tells us not to give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). I can’t help but think in particular of all the wolves in sheep’s clothing today who go about deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13) by false doctrines that tickle the ears and fill their own bellies but emaciate the soul.

6. Lying brings worse consequences.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14; cf. Galatains 6:7). In the long-term, truth, even when it hurts, is so much easier to deal with than the complicated chain of lies each previous lie requires – not to mention the consequences God promises will follow (Psalms 63:11; Proverbs 12:19; 19:5). Anyone who practices lying, especially the lie that God doesn’t exist, faces consequences for eternity (Psalms 101:7). Sins, including lies, often result in calamities (e.g., Isaiah. 59; Acts 5:1-11). But all liars are among those who shall have their part in the lake of fire that burns forever (Revelation 21:8).

7. Truth sets us free.
Jesus said, If you continue in My word, then you are My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31-32). The truth – the real truth – offers freedom! Freedom to rest in truth’s saving grace! Freedom to rely on God’s protection in all earthly and spiritual matters of truth! Freedom to think, live and grow by the guiding wisdom of truth! Freedom to share the truth with others! Freedom to defend it! Freedom to search out the truth even when “keeping it 100” pushes against the boundaries of our comfort zones! Freedom to love the truth even when it hurts, knowing that God is still, in all things, forever faithful!

Let’s be wise and always value the truth in every area of life. I’m reminding myself, too. And I’m just telling the truth. Even though it hurts sometimes, truth is not some horrible or some cheap thing for us to avoid, twist, cover up, or toss aside but to love, seek out, possess, keep close. Truth has its blessings, and God honors the truth in us infinitely more than our creativity, cleverness or ability to think quick on our feet.

“Truth is so obscure in our times and falsehood is so established, unless we love the truth we cannot know it.” — Blaise Pascal.

It’s worth repeating:  Truth really matters, and only the fool thinks it doesn’t.

Am I the only one who needs a regular reminder about the value of truth? Please leave a comment.

Bearing Fruit? Or Fashioning Idols?

Have you ever asked God to show you what you’re really like? Are you ready to see for yourself all that God already sees? I mean all of it – not just the good but also the bad and the ugly?

Can you ask God to show you the real you? After all, 1 John 5:14-15 promises He will give you whatever you ask according to His will, and why wouldn’t it be to let you see what He sees? Are you ready for that?

I’m reminded of the story at Luke 18:9-14 where Jesus contrasts the prayers of a prideful Pharisee and a humble publican. Pharisees in His day were a pious sect of the religious priesthood who enforced the Jewish people’s adherence to the Law of Moses. Publicans were tax collectors, considered traitors because they were Jews working for the detested ruling Roman government. Notice these differences Jesus points out between the two men:

Posture of Prayer: The prideful Pharisee stood. The humble publican stood “afar off” with his eyes looking down, and he beat his breast.

Content of Prayer: The prideful Pharisee boasted, “I’m not a sinner like other men…I fast regularly…I tithe…”. The humble publican first acknowledged that he was a sinner, and then asked for forgiveness and mercy.

Result of Prayer: The prideful Pharisee went home unjustified. The humble publican went home justified.

Jesus concluded (verse 14), Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.

James 1:22-25 talks about how hearing but not also living by God’s Word is the same as taking a quick glance in a mirror and then immediately forgetting what you really saw, distorting your own perception of yourself.

Don’t we all hold up little compact mirrors to ourselves, just small enough to reflect only what we want to see? It’s easy to focus just on our good parts and then magnify them to ourselves, other people, and even to God. And aren’t the mirrors we hold up to others a lot bigger?

If your good parts are really good, then yes, even God is pleased. But pride makes you think disproportionately more, and more often, about yourself than you deserve. And it shows. You are preoccupied with appearing better than other people, often to the point of magnifying their faults and weaknesses just so you can build up yourself. You also measure your importance by the things of the world, such as popularity or material gain, more than by the things of your Heavenly Father (1 John 2:15-17), such as His unmerited favor.

Mark 7:20-23 reinforces the problem with pride, that the heart of a prideful person is what produces the evils that spoil him and ultimately lead to his shame. That’s why God hates it.

Since we all are tempted by pride to one extent or another and have all been guilty of it at one time or another in one way or another, we need to be like that humble publican and recognize it in ourselves, confess it and work to change it. And to ask your Heavenly Father, “Lord, show me what I’m really like” – now that’s a good hard look in a full-length mirror! God stands ready to do just that – to show you what you’re really like, with His pruning shears in hand!

You see, Jesus is the True Vine, we believers are the branches of that Vine, and the Heavenly Father is the Gardener (John 15:1-8; I encourage you to read this beautiful but sobering passage). Here’s what the True Vine says about our Heavenly Gardener in verse 2: He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Part of what God wants to reveal and cut down in you are any areas of idolatry taking up space in your heart, mind and life.

In New Testament scripture, an “idol” is “an image, a phantom; an image in the mind, and then, the image of a god” (A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament, E.W. Bullinger; Kregel Publications; Grand Rapids, MI; 1908, 1999; p.395). In Webster’s dictionary, “idolatry” is blind or excessive adoration or devotion (www.Merriam-Webster.com).

Hmm. So idols are first formed in the mind, and then nurtured in the heart.

Well, God wants to cut them down. They spoil you and ultimately lead to your shame.

Historic accounts particularly in the Old Testament show that idols were actual symbolic icons of various God-made creatures such as animals or humans, formed out of God-made materials like gold and silver, shaped by the hand of men, originating out of their own imaginative inclinations and not from God who said, You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them… (Exodus 20:3-5a).

With that in mind, when asking God to show you the real you, ask yourself who’s really got a hold of the cutting tool. Is it God using His gardening shears to prune you to better spiritual health so that you can bear more fruit for His glory? Or are there also craftsman’s tools in your own hands, giving more and more idolatrous shape to any selfish or carnal feelings, ideas and ambitions of your own creation, or any popular celebrities, personalities, trends or other worldly distractions?

While God’s trying to prune you, are you also making icons? Are you bearing fruit, or fashioning idols?

You may not worship graven images of false, lifeless gods carved from wood, molded from clay, hewed from stone, or refined from fired gold. But maybe you’ve nurtured your desires, attitudes and habits about things and other people to the point that they’ve become like a god to you – a phantom image fashioned into an idol in your heart and mind, taking up space that should be completely devoted to Jesus Christ.

We all should recognize and then repent from all those ugly things that lurk beyond the surface of what we allow ourselves and others to see in us. Things such as pride, vanity, material gain, personal success, envy, resentment, self-righteousness, and self-centeredness; disproportionate devotion to people, trends or habits; or even pain, shame and sin – all the things we unwittingly build up like idols standing in the way of our devotion to and living for our awesome Heavenly Father.

When you’re ready to ask God to show you what you’re really like, be ready for Him to show you what “idols” He wants to cut down in you. Like an attentive and careful Gardener, His purpose is to improve you and nurture you so that you can truly flourish and bear lots of fruit, to His glory.