Christianity was supposed to be about becoming like Jesus. We went in the wrong direction.
Blog Archive   Home
Christian Pioneer - eBook for Cell Phone
  The Traditional Christian's Guide to the Family in Modern Times

email

 

The Truth Shall Set You Free

As parents, perhaps the greatest gift one can give their children is truth. John writes that he has no greater joy than to hear his children are walking in truth (3John 1:4). Truth prevents the mental deterioration cause by delusions. Truth is the solid foundation by which discernment can avoid deception. Truth is the ultimate absolute and unchangeable reality. The bible calls four things truth, God the Son, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and the word of God.

Jesus said the knowing the truth would make one free (John 8:32). Jesus told Pilate that those who were of the truth would hear his voice (Jon 18:37). This implies an internal configuration that results in being “of the truth”. Parents face the difficult task of insuring that they themselves are of the truth and insuring that that configuration is achieved by their children.

Satan is called the “father of lies”. Children often discover how useful lying is to get what they want or avoid punishment.Often it is only through painful experience that a child learns that lying is a tool that harms those who wield it. Sadly, life’s soft comforts often come as one grows distant from truth. This can make one reluctant to acknowledge truth much less seek it.

Those who have known difficulty such as combat veterans, cops, emergency room nurses, abuse victims, ex-cons, or those who have had health problems can find themselves more open to truth because reality has made a painful intrusion into their lives. Jesus warned his disciples about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. What was meant was the vulnerability to self-deception that such posturing can produce. A primary danger is that such self-deception is not easily correctable.

Being “of the truth” is not so much a choice, but rather the result of thousands of choices. The person who sets such a high value on truth that he will not tolerate that which is not true will make daily decisions that contribute to this internal structure. Sadly, some consider truth as what they hear that makes them feel good.  The person who is of the truth will consider a flatterer or someone making some assertion that is not true similar to someone trying to hand him a poison snake.

Parents have to set an example for a high view of truth and demonstrate that even when costly, truth has to be maintained. The reverence for truth is more than simply not lying or deceiving oneself. Truth is involved in assessing everything that is seen and heard. This is also how discernment is exercised (Heb 5:14).

Truth can seem fragile since it is so easily lost. However, truth is robust and solid. What is fragile is our hold on it. We are told that at a future time some will succumb to a delusion because they received not a love of the truth (2Thess 2:10). The Greek word “love” (agape) is defined as selflessness (1Cor 13:4-7). The implication is that we have to value truth above ourselves. Perhaps more than anything else except faith this is the key to the Christian life. Seeing past the deceptions of the world and even our own flesh requires an unswerving desire for truth.

One should appreciate the damage that arises from tolerating even little lies or little “white” lies. It can be tempting to brush aside that which seems inconsequential. While one does not need to comment or point out every deviation from truth, he should be at least recognized them as such so that one maintains a sharper level of discernment.




  


Information about Christianity and the Christian life.

 Pictures and views of our farm Some of our animals See some of the old-fashioned crafts we are trying to relearn