What is Truth?
Winston Churchill….A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is still putting it’s pants on.”
Virginia Wolf….To speak the truth with the wrong motives, is just as cruel as telling a lie….
Mark Twain…..If you always tell the truth, you don't have to be concerned if you have a really bad memory.
George Orwell… “Perhaps the truth does not want to be loved as much as it wants to be understood.”
When Jesus asked the man about his son who was taken with fits, this father had the right answer….Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If you can believe, all things are possible to those who believe. v24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief”.
What this guy was saying, is “I believe the truth with my head, but I want to believe the truth with all my heart”!
Truth is the master key that opens every locked thing which would hold us captives and keep us from the favor and blessings God desires for us to enjoy….When our thoughts align with God’s thoughts, His reality aligns itself with our reality…..Being a person of the word, causes you to view everything through the lens of God’s truth
When you know the truth, You can no longer live or operate in the grey zones of life…..where everything is relative to how you feel or what the popular thing is at the moment…
The Grey Zone may feel good, look good, and it may not require as much dedication or sacrifice. The Grey zone may suffice for a politically correct Christian–who is all about fitting in with society. The Grey zone may be loved and accepted and allow a Christian to fit comfortably in with the world. The Grey zone can even have an outward look of success. The sea of Grey doesn’t rock many boats–and it doesn’t cause many waves.
The grey zone is about playing it safe….It’s for the complacent and exists in the fog of compromise….it is apathetic….The Grey zone numbs us and dulls our senses to the sinfulness of sin…and the evil that is in evil. It is only interested in maintaining status quo ….Grey zone living doesn’t experience God working amazing miracles, because it is busy living below its potential. The Grey zone operates in feeling, and not by faith…..It’s like cutting with a dull knife....The grey zone makes for a Christian life with no power because those in the grey zone only pray when they’re desperate, and they read the word without any personal change….
Jesus is never found living in the grey zone. He lived in the white-hot zone of commitment and surrender to the Father. When he was in a flesh body, He upset all the boats of the folks in the grey zone and turned them upside down just as he did the money changers in the temple.
Truth is like that….the problem with truth is that when you know it, you can’t tip-toe around the issues anymore….and even though you may try to put it in a way that will not be offensive and rejected, with truth, silence is no longer an option!
A long standing family of the church, invited their pastor for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked the young son what they were having. "We’re having Goat," the little boy told him. "Goat?" replied the startled pastor, who didn’t think goat sounded very appetizing "Are you sure about that?" "Yep," said the youngster. "I heard Dad say to Mom, 'It’s been a while since we had the pastor join us for dinner.. now is good a time to have the old goat.'
Truth is not always comfortable, but these are desperate times. If your neighbor’s house was on fire and the whole family was asleep inside–mom, dad, the kids and the family pets….It would demand action and commitment….it would be a do or die situation, there would be no hesitation about what needed to be done….People would die if they weren’t warned and if someone didn’t help them get out of the building…. you would do everything in your power to get them out. You would Yell. Scream. Draw attention to the danger. Smash windows and doors. Whatever you could do to get them out! There are times when truth demands, we rise up, and operate with the “whatever it takes” kind of action… and this is those times.
God has a name for paralyzing fog of the grey zone, or a “go with the flow” mentality that is so prevalent today …..He says grey is lukewarm. God actually doesn’t like grey, in His own words, He says that it makes Him gag. (look at it)
Revelation 3:15,16 “I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth”. WOW!
God wants us to be living, white-hot lives for Him. White hot, full of zeal, passionately pursuing Him, and passionately pursuing people with His message of love and grace. Bringing light into the darkness, While at the same time, we have a compassion and sensitivity for those who are sorting and processing through their own life concepts and values and they are all around us. At times it can be a delicate balancing act….
And we usually end up tip-toeing around the truth because we are afraid of losing something….What are we afraid of losing?....Is it our job? Or our spouse? Or our kids? Or our house? Or how about our position? Or titles, Or our friends, our influence, Or our money?, or worse, our life? What you fear losing is an accurate barometer of what is controlling you.
People work double overtime securing a life for themselves–striving, to gather and hold on to all manner of things. But, if we value Jesus most, we will not be willing to exchange our approval from Him for all the other things or people that we may count important.
As Stephen was being stoned, because of the truth he was declaring, instead of thinking of all the things of the world that he would be losing….he saw only the one thing that was most important and that is what he would be gaining…..He raised his voice above the mocking and jeering of his persecutors and said “I see Jesus, standing at the Father’s right hand”…. The right hand is the place of favor, and Jesus was letting Stephen know that favor was on him as he received his promotion to Glory, even under these terrible circumstances…..as a result of Stephen’s refusal to compromise the truth, Paul, one of the most prominent apostles, who wrote most of the new testament, and reached the gentile world for Christ, was converted as the Holy Spirit used the power of the truth that was spoken by Stephen to transfer into the spirit of Paul….
Bill Gaither wrote in His song “Joy comes in the morning”…it says “To invest your seeds of trust in God in mountains you can't move, and to risk your life on things you cannot prove. And to give the things you cannot keep for what you cannot lose, is the way to find the joy God has for you.”
Jesus said, “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.. or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
The longer I live, the more I know, God wants us to rightly divide Truth and bring His life-changing grace to a world that desperately needs something solid, dependable and secure in their lives.
Truth can feel like the elephant in the room…We all know it is there, but often we don’t know what to do with it, where to put it or how it fits in with what we have planned and decided in our lives!!! Truth is still truth even if no one believes it and a lie is still a lie even if everyone believes it!
But truth is about building trust, and trust is more important than popularity! Preaching is communication that is one directional. There is a speaker and a hearer, but relationships have two-way communication. Superficial relationships will produce superficial disciples, superficial followers, and superficial friends, with no depth or real commitment, because it’s all superficial.
But intimacy can only come through trust that is built on a foundation of truthfulness and transparency, and that requires honest communication and Openness, that’s why intimacy is pronounced “Into me see”. It means that all parties in the relationship are communicating, honestly, openly, with sincerity and with love. To relate with one another beyond what is on the outside, we must let, “the truth in me, to see the truth in you”
A young couple were struggling to make ends meet on a meager salary, the husband was livid when he confronted his wife with the receipt for a $250 dress she had bought. "How could you do this, knowing how tight money is?!" "Well, she said, I was outside the store looking at the dress in the window, and the next thing I knew, I found myself trying it on, It was like Satan was whispering in my ear, 'You look fabulous in that dress. You must have it, you can’t live another day without it, Buy it!'" "Well," the husband responded, "You know how I deal with that kind of temptation. I say, 'Get behind me, Satan!" "Oh, I did that, , she said, but that devil just said, hey, It looks fabulous from back here, too!'"
Truth and grace go hand in hand. And while the bible is extreme black and white in the truth it presents, that truth must operate with, and be poured through the funnel of grace and love. The Bible truth pulls no punches, but all grace and a sprinkle of truth equals weak, grey Christians. All truth and no grace equals legalistic, Christ-less religion, void of life and power.
Psalm 51:6 tells us that the Father desires Truth in the inner most parts. The message of Jesus is extreme and it is radical. It requires a choice: To the rich young ruler, he gave a choice, to the disciples he demanded a choice if they were to follow Him, To Nicodemus He demanded a choice….There is no room in the gospel message for grey, choose Jesus, and choose truth or don’t choose Him, and don’t choose truth, but understand that regardless of our choice, He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.
A lot of folks want to blend in, fit in and be part of whoever they’re with, so they become chameleon Christians. They camouflage themselves so they don’t stand out and draw attention to themselves….Someone said that if you see someone wearing camouflage gear, be sure to run right into them, and knock them over, so they’ll think the camouflage is actually working….
John 1:14 And the Word was made 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. In other words we could say… “The truth was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, as of the only begotten of the father, who was the fullness of the perfect blend of grace and truth”…
There’s no middle ground with God. No mixing of colors. No blending or watering down of convictions. It’s all, or it’s nothing at all. When your children are young, if you have blended together, grace, love and truth in raising them, even when you discipline them, they still know you love them and want the best for them….
Many of us are believing God for great things for our life, wanting to see revival in our time, we want to see our city changed by the gospel, and our nation too. However God puts it right back on us. He simply says, it starts with you. It starts with all of us. It has to begin with each of us as individuals. What is the status of my heart and what is my position, where the rubber meets the road, in relationship to His truth?
John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. What Jesus was saying is that seeking for truth outside of The one who is the truth is only an exercise in futility and frustration….it’s like trying to stack ball bearings….
The law of the pendulum states that if you tie a weight on a string and bring it to it’s highest point and release it, the arc will diminish each time it swings, until in about a minute, it will stop. The point at which it stops is called the point of equilibrium, when all forces acting upon it are equilized. Truth has a point of equalization… when you twist it to your own ends… (it is known as stretching the truth)….It will find it’s point of equilization!! Folks refer to this process as, “what goes around, comes around”…
A Charlotte NC man purchased a box of 24 very rare and expensive cigars then took out a fire insurance policy on them. Before his first insurance payment came due, he smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars. He then filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the man stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, but he sued the insurance company.... and he won! Under the terms of the policy the company was obligated to pay the claim. The insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $24,000.00 to the man for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires.” However, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! And the man was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine. THAT MY FRIEND IS THE LAW OF THE PENDULUM!!! When you try to stretch and manipulate the truth!
2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked (untruthful) ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – Put another way….If I refuse to humble myself, pray and seek God, turn from my wicked or (untruthful) ways, and stop living by a double standard, my Christianity will be powerless in seeing my family, my church, my city, or my nation changed for Him.
What are the wicked ways spoken of in this scripture? They are all those ways in which we have abandoned God’s truth by flip flopping and trying to stand in two places! These things have a way of embedding themselves in every aspect of the internal and external world of our thinking and emotions, our heart and soul. When we humble our heart and get honest with Him, confessing all the places where truth has been mixed with the world’s reasoning and compromise, it is then that we will see the power of the truth, transform, purify and cleanse us….
1John 1:8 “If we continue to deceive ourselves, then the truth is not in us. v9 If we confess our sins (ham-ar'-tay-mah…missing the mark of His truth) He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (ham-ar'-tay-mah), and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (ad-ee-kee'-ah….our actions that spring forth from an absence of the truth)”.
If we refuse to humble our hearts before God, all this untruth remains in us. It becomes something the enemy can, and will, at the opportune time, use against us, to divide, confuse and conquer God’s people.
Superficiality creeps in quickly, dislodging and isolating people from relationships, from churches, and sometimes from faith….because of the division within ourselves. …When we are confused, and disillusioned about what we truly believe, we hinder the advancing of God’s kingdom in earth.
A pastor had a deep seated fear of getting leprosy. He had read that the early signs are loss of feeling in the limbs, and he was always rubbing his legs, and if he felt it, he knew he wasn’t getting leprosy. One Sunday at dinner he reached under the table and started rubbing his leg. He couldn't feel a thing. He rubbed it again - harder this time. Still no sensation. Suddenly he shocked everyone as he blurted out, " Oh, no ! I've got it ! " A young lady sitting next to slapped him and yelled, "You’ve got it all right and you had better leave it alone”!!! There are many so called Christians who have great difficulty connecting their faith with their everyday actions.
Perhaps the greatest challenge for believers who desire to walk in truth that is mixed with grace, is to see far enough into the heart of someone who is being a hypocrite, to discover his inner place of sincerity. It is from that place, transformation can begin to occur.
Why do we oppose our own selves and fight against ourselves? Why do we know one thing and yet do something else? Why do we ask for God’s blessing and yet do what we know He cannot bless? Why do we do evil and wonder why good doesn’t happen?
Matthew 12:25 “Jesus said, every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand”. This is true of our families, our church, and our nation and ourselves.
Pure Truth is a Personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in Christ, all your sins are forgiven. Your slate is wiped clean and ready for God to write upon. He writes according to His eternal covenant He has entered into with you. You are an heir and joint-heir….
Truth is Your New Position. You are no longer an outsider. As His child, you have the privilege of approaching His throne at any moment for grace to handle any situation. He is never too busy and He is always available and willing. As Kings and Priests you have authority in the physical and the spiritual realms.
Truth is Your Possession. There is no power greater than truth. When everything else has disappeared and gone, truth will remain. When you handle truth, you are touching eternity. Truth has embedded within it, peace, joy, safety, health, life, abundance and prophetic fulfillment.
Truth is Your New Identity. It is your password and access to heavenly things, a window of revelation, It moves angels, and drives away demon forces. Forces in heaven and earth, know us by the truth that is in us!
David was a king in a shepherd’s body. When David stood for the truth, He stepped into his new identity….Sometimes God will put a goliath test in your life, so you can tap into the David spirit within you…. Total and complete victory in our families, our churches, our cities, and our nation depends on opening up to this inner Godly champion of truth, that is there by the Holy Spirit.
John 18:37 is the conversation between Jesus and Pilate…“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. And Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to give witness to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” v38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked….”
This is one of the most profound questions ever asked! Is it what the Doctor told you, or the lawyer, or political correctness? Jesus said “You shall know the truth and the truth *…..shall set you free”!!!! And He qualified that by saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
The lame man found Him and went home walking….The blind man found Him and went home seeing..The deaf man received his sight..The demon possessed man was set free.. the prostitute received forgiveness..The multitudes connected with God. They all encountered the one who is truth!
A man became lost in his travels and wandered into a pool of quicksand. Confucius saw the man’s predicament and said, “It is evident that men should stay out of places such as this.” Next, Buddha observed the situation and said, “Let that man’s mistake be a lesson to us all.” Then Mohammed came by and said to the sinking man, “Alas, it is the will of Alah.” Finally, Jesus appeared on the scene ad said, “Here, take my hand, and I will bring you out.”
If You shall know the truth shall set you free!!!! When you need peace “He is the prince of peace. When you’re groping in Darkness “He is the light of the World.” When you’re lost “He is the way”…..He’s your great Shepherd…He’s the word of almighty God….He’s the greatest teacher that ever walked the planet…He’s the healer… He’s the door that opens and no one can shut it He’s the beginning of all things & He’s the finisher of all things…. He’s always with us and His Spirit is in us….He’s a greater artist than Van Gogh and rainbows after the rain, the colors of fall, and the flowers and beautifully colored birds and the fish of the sea are His handiwork….He’s the best counsellor you can find anywhere….He’s our attorney who represents us before, man, the angels and God…His wisdom surpasses all the wisdom of all the wisest that ever lived….
Jesus is the answer, But most important of all, He’s the savior of the world, who connects us back to the Father, and guarantees that we will reign with Him forever!!!! His truth is the key to every problem, it’s the revelation to every mystery.. a plan for every tomorrow….it is the light at the end of the tunnel…and the solution we’ve all been searching for…..You shall know the Truth and the truth shall set you free….
