DO WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH?

Many argue that we don’t need organized religion, sacred texts, gurus, teachers, or courses on spirituality because the truth is already within each one of us. According to the Scriptures, there is some truth to this. We do have the truth within. God has written it upon our hearts and minds (Romans 1:18-20; 2:14-15). However, we find the truth repugnant and suppress it:

·       For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 30:9-11)

Israel could not stand the truth. The lie was far more comforting. Israel even loved the comforting lie:

·       …the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? (Jeremiah 5:31; Micah 2:11)

Jesus made it clear that this indictment applies to all of us:

·       And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

Consequently, we surround ourselves with people, professionals, and psychotherapists skilled at telling us what we want to hear. However, Jesus also had provided the solution:

·       Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

We must be changed so that we will love rather than suppress the truth. Many of us think that we are already tuned into the truth. I thought that I was a truth seeker. However, I had never once prayed to God to know the truth about Him. Instead, I wanted God to fit into my self-centered ideas of who I wanted Him to be. Anything else was off-the-radar.

Normally speaking, we are unwilling to accept God as He truly is, not as long as He might conflict with our interests. Consequently, Israel surrounded themselves with false prophets, the ones who understood what the people wanted to hear and provided this highly marketable commodity.

In contrast to what we want, Jesus explained to a Samaritan woman what God wants:

·       “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Worship would no longer have to be in the Temple but it would have to be according to the truth. We are not free to come to God according to what “feels right” to us or “what works” for us.

Is this humanly demeaning? Well, it feels this way if we have unduly elevated ourselves. However, this is just what we have done, and we do this in many ways. For one thing, we refuse to face the truth about ourselves. We rationalize away and deny our wrongdoing. We train ourselves to think that it’s always the other guy’s fault. Then we also try to prove ourselves to others. The religious leadership, the appointed shepherds of Israel, were especially “successful” at this. This is why Jesus routinely took aim at them:

·       And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15)

Although I was never a leader, I became skilled in the practice of self-exaltation and blindly experienced its many evils. However, God used a life-threatening chainsaw injury, which caused me to pray to know the truth about the God who had revealed His love for me.

Over the next years, Jesus made me painfully aware of the truth I had suppressed about myself and my utter need for Him. His surgery was unbelievably painful. I was forced to see what I had refused to see and was horrified, leaving me with one burning question: “Could God love someone was unworthy as I?”

Yes, we do have the truth within. However, I have found that there is nothing as threatening as the truth. However, through His love and reassurances, He has enabled me to live comfortably, even joyously, with both the truth of who I am and the truth of who He is.

How do we find the Savior? Jesus said:

·       “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)