Jesus is the Truth (cont.)
John 14:6 – “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
As we mentioned last time, Jesus was, and is, the truth. Everything about Him is truth. He spoke the truth, He embodies the truth. His character speaks truth. His life expresses truth. He is the truth! Because this is true about Jesus, He must become the One from whom we get our truth today.
The Greek word for truth here is Alethia. It is synonymous with the word ‘reality’ as opposed to illusion.
Jesus is reality. His Word is reality. His life and teachings are reality. Anything which goes contrary to His Word, contrary to Him, is an illusion, deception or a fraud.
We are told by Paul in Ephesians chapter 6 to put on ‘the belt of truth.’ As one commentator put it, “Truth is essential in a world filled with misinformation, lies, and deception. When we hold on to the truth, we remain grounded and can defend ourselves against various challenges and temptations.” Someone else said, “Let us actively engage with Scripture, allowing it to shape our understanding and guide our decisions.”
Whether a person recognizes it or not, everyone is seeking truth. And the only true source for truth is the One who embodies truth, Jesus. We must seek Him. Quoting again, “Truth will guide our decisions, relationships, and how we view ourselves in Christ. Living in truth helps eliminate things that do not align with God’s heart…” “Without an understanding of truth, we are left vulnerable to being ‘carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.”
There is no doubt, in the light of all of this, that truth is important to Jesus, because that is his very nature. If we align ourselves with Jesus, if we are building our lives on truth, on Him, then truth must also become very important to us. Whatever it was to Jesus, that it must become to us. Our lives must speak the truth about Jesus. Our lives must reflect Him, who is the very embodiment of truth. We must be living that truth out in our daily walk.
But not only that, since Jesus spoke the truth, we too must speak the truth if we are to be like Him. There should be no room within us for dishonesty. There should be no room for deception and deceit and lying. In this world in which we live, it seems to be the norm to just be ‘generally honest most of the time.’ But as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, as one who is working to be like Him, that cannot be a true statement coming from us.
Let me give this from another writer, something which is blunt but true. He said, “When it comes to honesty we need to put the bar to the very highest setting. We must not settle for anything less than 100% truthfulness 100% of the time. Anything less than that is compromise and, therefore, is not ‘truth’. You can’t have 99% truth. If you do, it is just a lie, the same as 50% truth is a lie. Likewise, if you only tell the truth 99% of the time, then that 1% still makes you a liar. So, those of us who feel satisfied and complacent about the issue of truth need to wake up and reassess this whole subject.”
Well, may God help us to exemplify Jesus in all honesty and truth. May He be our truth!