Why Truth Matters?

 Click Here to Read or Listen To Or Read To The One Year Bible Lessons

1 This letter is from John, the elder. I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth— 2 because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever. 3 Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love. 4 How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded. 2 John 1:1-4

This is the apostle John's second letter to go along with his gospel. One of the most important words that John uses in all of his writing is the word "truth". He uses the word 37 times in his New Testament writings. In these first 4 verses of 2 John, he uses the word "truth" 5 times. 

One of the issues we see in the post modern society we live in is that the idea of absolute truth has been pretty much been abandoned by our culture. The intellectual elites and our insitutes of higher education have pretty much jettisoned the concept of "absolute truth". Another way of putting it is that we live in a culture of "relativism". Relativism is basically an idea that truth is determined by each individual as they determine it for themselves. Basically it says, "My truth is my truth and your truth is your truth." Tell that to someone who is checking to see if the plane I am taking off in is good to go. I hope his truth lines up with absolute truth of what is going to keep my plane in the air from the truth of physics. We accept truth in almost every area except in the spiritual arena. 

For John the truth is more than an idea or a set of rules. The truth is alive and something that lives in us. In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life". 

I think there are at least three ways in which John intends for us to understand the New Testament idea of truth. 

1. The truth about Jesus. The truth that Jesus came down from heaven to dwell among us full of "grace and truth". The truth that Jesus is both 100% God and 100% man. When either of these truths about him are compromised, the gospel is compromised, and the truth is compromised. 

2. Living in the truth. Since those who believe in Jesus are born again, and His Spirit lives within us, the logical conclusion is that the His Spirit of Truth also lives in us. This is why a Christian cannot lie and keep a clean conscience. The Spirit of Truth convicts them of the truth leading them to repentance. 

3. Loving in the truth. For John being a person of truth and being a Christ follower is obeying God's commandments as revealed in the bible. The bible is written by human authors who are inspired by God to write down everything God has commanded them to write. An authentic Christian who lives in the truth obeys God's commandments. This is not obedience to gain God's approval, but because they have it. And the essence of obeying the commandments is to love each other. 

Jesus said in John 13:34, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

It is not like all the other commandments are erased by this statement. Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Therefore as we love like Jesus did, we fulfill the law of love.

Now more than ever Christians need to guard these three aspects of truth that John teaches us in his four different writings. We can never compromise the truth about the true nature of Jesus. We must not only profess to know the truth but live it everyday. The essence of living in the truth is to love one another, as Jesus has loved us! 

Though the world may have lost the meaning of the truth, we can certainly stand up for the truth of Jesus, live in Him, and love in Him! 




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