I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it. (1 John 2:21)
As I write this, the lead story in the news is a political figure who was sentenced to years in prison for lying to Congress and obstructing justice. The quote from the judge caught my attention: “Truth still exists,” she said. “Truth still matters.”
Tragic, isn’t it, that that even has to be said? Many, if they were honest, would say only that their truth matters, as if truth were theirs to define. Unfortunately, they seem to be in the majority at present. A recent study indicated that almost 60 percent of all Americans believe there is no such thing as absolute truth. Even more disturbing is the finding that more than 40 percent of Christians agree.
Pontius Pilate almost sounds like a postmodern philosopher when we read the smug question he asked Christ at his trial, “What is truth?” The irony, of course, is that Truth was standing before him that very moment. Pilate was sitting in judgment over the One who only hours before had said to his followers, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Pilate’s prisoner will one day judge him, and the standard will be what it has in reality always been—to borrow a contemporary phrase—“true truth.”
While that mocking question must haunt Pilate’s soul for all eternity, by God’s grace, may it never haunt ours.
Know the truth. Speak the truth. Live the truth.
—Bob Black is professor emeritus of religion at Southern Wesleyan University, where he served for thirty-two years. He co-authored the denominational history, The Story of The Wesleyan Church.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
