The pursuit of truth. It’s important to each of us every day. Not just for those eternal truths that guide our lives but also those truths that affect our daily decisions. It’s a small matter in the scheme of things, But lately I’ve been thinking about switching to a new wireless carrier. So I’ve been researching options online and chatting with “specialists” who are supposed to know “the truth” about what their products and plans offer. The problem is, I get different versions of “the truth” when I talk to different representatives and also when I look online. Trying to find out what insurance will and will not cover before I commit to various important medical procedures has been equally as evasive. Searching for the truth matters, but sometimes the truth we seek isn’t as clear to us as we’d like. Why is it so hard?
The “fine print” of hidden clauses aren’t intended to make things clear. And it takes diligent effort to uncover the full truth. Legalism, that list of things to do or don’t do, is another example. We think that “list” of to-dos and not-to-dos beings us closer to God. But the truth is it causes us to drift away and rely on our own ability to keep up with “the list.”
We can chalk part of it up to incompetence or apathy or lack of training or our own limited understanding. But sometimes it goes beyond that. Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 4 that part of the problem is that there are deceiving spirits. Spoken plainly, the enemy doesn’t want you to know the truth…at least not the whole truth. Being filled with doubt and frustration is part of the enemy’s plan. This is clearly evident when it comes to eternal matters. Perhaps there is more of a spiritual battle involved with uncovering truth in common day to day matters as well.
We follow some untruths simply because that was the way we were taught. It’s become part of family tradition, the way we do things, without questioning them or examining them against scripture. I’ve known good people who admitted wavering on biblical truth because it would upset their family or friends. Sometimes, even Christians get caught up with habitually saying “good luck, knock on wood,” and other godless expressions that have no place in a believer’s life. There’s no truth in the behavior and yet we continue in the truth-less path.
We drift away from truth when we start thinking of this world as our real home. We drift further when we put our hope and trust in the things of life – our abilities and skills, our financial security, our health, and other things that are fleeting. The truth I’ve come to experience is the only real hope we have is in God who is always faithful and never changes.
How do we stay focused on what is actually true? How do we not get caught up in the lie? Consider the lessons from 1 Timothy 4:
We train ourselves to be godly. We set ourselves as examples in life, in love, in purity and in faith by diligently devoting ourselves daily to the reading and meditation of scripture, to godly preaching and teaching. We examine everything else we’re “taught” against God’s standard of truth.
We pay attention to our life and match it up with God’s counsel for us.
We persevere, trusting the truth to guide us in hard times as well as good ones. We don’t give up or set up other masters in our life.
I don’t know about you, but the constant pursuit of God’s truth is what I need to keep me centered and to respond well – whether dealing with customer service representatives or the much more pressing and difficult issues of life.
May your day be marked by the pursuit of God’s truth – in all things.