Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

There was an interesting exchange between Jesus and Pilate when Jesus was brought before him. Pilate presented the accusation as he had heard it from the Jewish leadership. Then, ^“Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ^‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’ ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him.’” (John 18:36-38).

“What is truth?” asked Pilate. And that is the question we should be continually asking.

All of Jesus’ I AM statements are supremely important for us to believe and receive in order to have eternal life. But there is one that seems to be foundational for our understanding of all the others, and that is that Jesus is the Truth.

It is telling that the arch enemy, Satan, is known by his dishonesty and deceit. Jesus told the Jews who were challenging his claim to be God’s son, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

What is truth?

Truth is about honesty. All school children in my day grew up learning that George Washington, the father of our country, could not tell a lie about chopping down that cherry tree. But truth is about so much more than honesty in admitting our wrongdoing, or even about our honest testimony in court as in “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (the ninth commandment).

The subject of truth is important to consider because of all the deceit that surrounds us. We’ve all heard about “fake news.” Most of us are now savvy enough, or cynical enough, not to believe everything we hear or read about current events. How sad that is that there are so few trusted news sources. This is not a new thing. Even in the Old Testament, “Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.” (Isaiah 59:5). How can we know what really is the truth?

And while the spread of fake news is intentional, there are other unintentional sources of untruth. This one gets rather personal, but my brothers and I used to joke about our dad “rewriting history.” Don’t get me wrong, my dad was a wonderful Christian man. But his memory was distorted. Clearly, there were things that he remembered about my childhood that were distinctly different from how I remembered it. I have since learned that our brains can be rewired. If we tell ourselves something enough times, our brain will “remember” it as if it happened that way rather than how it actually happened. Knowing that, I can’t really be sure if Dad was wrong or if it was me who was wrong about events from our past, but clearly, one, or maybe even both of us, misremembered. What is truth?

And then, perhaps worst of all, are those who tell us that truth does not matter. Your truth does not have to agree with my truth so long as you are true to yourself. This is called relativism, and it is deadly. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18).

I don’t know about you, but all this really alarms me. If there’s one thing I have learned, it is that there cannot be multiple conflicting truths. Either young George chopped down the cherry tree, or he didn’t. Either the U.S. landed on the moon in 1969, or we didn’t. Either Dad’s car broke down so that we couldn’t take that trip, or it didn’t. And finally, there can be only one Creator; there can only be one Sovereign God.  Everyone and everything else are created by the one true Creator; everyone and everything else is subject to the one true God who is Sovereign over all.

So, in this culture of falsity, fake news, deceit, corruption, and even fading memories, where can we safely and reliably turn to for The Truth? You know where I’m going. The Bible is the source of knowledge about Truth. It is the filter by which we sift out all the conflicting information that bombards us. It is the lens with which we examine everything. The Bible is True. Jesus is the Truth. Jesus is the Word. The Word is Truth.

• The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
• For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
• Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32).

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must stay in the Word. It is our only reliable source of life-giving truth:

• Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long (Psalm 25:5).
• But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).
• Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Romans 6:13-15).
• This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:3-5).

And just a few more words to those of us who minister to others (and that’s all of us):

• If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed (1 Timothy 4:6).
• Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
• Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 2:25).

“For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does” (Psalm 33:4).

In Christ,

Judy