When considering questions about the Christian faith, “What is truth?” should be high on everyone’s list.
Truth is hard to identify these days. We look to experts for truth, but it appears many professionals, politicians, and preachers are being driven by personal agendas that shape their version of the truth. If something is to be gained personally, truth is manipulated to bring about the desired outcome.
What is to be gained? What desire is so important to us that we are willing to sacrifice the truth to get it?
The answer can be found in one word: freedom. God has placed the desire for freedom into every human heart. We long to be free. We yearn for it.
Patrick Henry understood and declared that freedom is more important than life itself. Patrick was referring to his own life while at the same time sacrificing the lives of the slaves he owned to advance his personal freedom. He was terribly conflicted within himself and acknowledged that he could not justify slave ownership — but not conflicted enough to set his slaves free.
We humans are a self-justifying mess. Be careful here. Before you begin throwing stones at Patrick Henry and others, it would be wise to take a hard look in the mirror. We humans are all susceptible to the same ills. We can’t deny human history; we must learn from it. If we don’t, we fall into the trap of expressing moral outrage toward the offenses of others while committing the same offenses ourselves. The writer of Ecclesiastes declared in 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Is your life defined and driven by truthfulness in every area? If you can’t answer yes, then stop throwing stones and start making corrections.
There are two ways to achieve freedom. One requires the giving of our own lives through self-restraint, honesty, hard work, and sacrifice. The other requires stealing life from someone else.
Freedom always has a cost — and someone must pay for it. It is the law of freedom. There is no way around it. We must choose. Either we will give our own lives for the sake of freedom, or we will take someone else’s. Those are the options.
The most effective tool for taking someone else’s freedom is the manipulation of the truth. And the reason we are so easily duped by liars is because we are also looking for a shortcut to freedom. Liars are successful because selfish people are willing to buy what they’re selling.
The freedom earned through self-restraint and honesty brings light and, life and freedom to others. The freedom earned through the manipulation of the truth brings darkness, bondage, and death to others.
Today, we are witnessing the consequences of freedom gained through the manipulation of the truth. It’s getting darker in our world. Bondage and death are becoming our cultural norm. This is important to understand. When we steal life from others to advance our own freedom, the world we live in becomes increasingly filled with darkness, bondage, and death. What good is personal freedom if the world we’ve created is a miserable cesspool?
We don’t need extensive research and polling to reveal that the truth is dying. Just consider your own thoughts and the conversations you are having with friends. We don’t know who to trust anymore. It feels like everyone is twisting the truth for their own gain. Part of the reason we feel that way is because we’re likely doing the same thing. It’s a self-perpetuating disaster — and we know it.
Recent research has revealed that professionals are trusted significantly less today than they were five years ago. It’s a dark trend, and without radical change, the darkness will spread across our land like a plague.
When Jesus was gathering His disciples, He made this observation about Nathanael in John 1:47, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Considering Jesus’ ability to know the heart and mind, it is an extraordinary observation. Jesus didn’t describe anyone else that way. He saw something extraordinary in Nathanael — and He openly celebrated it.
Would Jesus make the same observation about me? Would He openly celebrate my truthfulness? Am I so deeply committed to the truth that I am willing to sacrifice my own life to preserve and protect the truth for others? Am I so committed to freedom that I am willing to sacrifice my own life to preserve and protect freedom for others?
These are big questions. The answer we give through our actions today will determine the nature of the world in which we live. Will it be increasing light and life and freedom for all? Or will it be increasing darkness and bondage and death for all? Those are the options.
God’s words to Israel in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 are clearly a prophetic warning to us:
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees, and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
What will you choose?
