Some friends of ours are avid gardeners. Today I ate some of the surplus tomatoes they generously shared with us and was impressed again with how much better home-grown produce tastes and smells compared to the typical produce sold in stores. The color and sweet, rich, full flavor easily surpasses their commercial counterparts which have to be harvested prematurely in order to survive the time, handling, and packaging needed to travel from farm to market.
This contrast exists in other areas of life also like cheap products marketed to sell quickly versus quality products designed to last, greedy companies who take advantage of employees, customers, and the environment to make more profit versus responsible companies who treat their people and resources as valuable assets, leaders who only seek to be honored and promoted versus leaders who sacrificially serve others, or even lackadaisical people who could do much more if they applied all of their potential. The way people mishandle truth spotlights this dichotomy also.
In our broken world we are surrounded by disinformation, advertising, propaganda, lies, and deception. We are also confronted with reporting which masquerades as fact whether it be fake news, incomplete news, inaccurate news, or biased news. Yet good news and the truth do exist. We just need to intentionally seek them out and not passively accept whatever we hear or read. Part of the challenge in doing so is external because for a variety of selfish reasons truth is being withheld or shrouded. The other part of the challenge is internal because we can fool ourselves. We can miss the truth by not facing reality. I had to confer with a student a few days ago because she was failing my digital art class and the term was ending. I had been warning her for several weeks and showing her what she could do to raise her grade. Throughout the process she continued to deny that she was failing. A few days ago our term ended and unfortunately she failed the class. She is now having to face the reality that her viewpoint did not align with the truth. It did not match reality.
Our viewpoint does not dictate reality (although that is what the philosophy of relativism asserts). No, our viewpoint merely influences our reaction to reality. Truth by nature is objective and it transcends ourselves. We either accept truth and reality and align ourselves with it or we reject the truth and suffer the consequences. We typically reject the truth when it doesn’t serve our self interests. We excuse our need to follow the truth with a number of rationalizations. After a while we might not even realize how far we have strayed from reality. For example, some kids are fascinated with setting things on fire, many teens enjoy vaping toxic chemicals into their lungs, a mother is fine with leaving her baby in the car while shopping, or a father proudly leads by emotionally manipulating his family. Anyone watching them recognizes such behavior as stupid, foolish, careless, or deluded, because their actions are dangerous and can cause real harm. Yet to a misguided person one’s behavior seems right, safe, expedient, or worth the risk. When any of us denies the truth it leads to precariously operating from a warped sense of reality.
Instead we should live in alignment with reality so we enjoy a quality life and can best benefit others. This takes God’s help. He is the truth. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). We may try to find truth on our own, but apart from God we can’t. “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Thus, our sense of reality should start with God. It used to be that way for humankind as described in the Bible in the first three chapters of Genesis. Adam and Eve, the first people, enjoyed a full life in sweet fellowship with God. But at one point they chose to honor themselves above God. They pursued their desires instead of his. They listened to the lies of the serpent and didn’t follow the truth of God’s word. When they disobeyed God in the garden they were no longer living in truth. They exchanged real, everlasting, life with God for an empty, shameful, deceived, selfish, and fragile shell of a life which would end in death. This brought decay to all the earth and the rest of humankind. Thus we have tragically inherited their tendency to selfishly rebel.
Ever since we are easily deceived by making up our own gods, fabricating our own truth, or gullibly swallowing Satan’s enticing lies. Here are a few, brief examples:
- Some people falsely believe there is no God. They claim there is merely a material world and when you die that’s it for you. The truth is God does exist. The evidence for an intelligent designer is all around us from the microscopic order in life to the cosmic wonders of the universe. God lovingly created humankind in his image and gave us an eternal soul and spirit. We will live beyond the limits of our temporary physical body. If you trust and obey Jesus you will live with God now and forever. If you do not, you will live apart from God and eventually be eternally separated from him (Genesis 1; Romans 1:18-23; John 1:1-5, 1:9-14, 5:24; 1 John 5:11-13; Psalm 34).
- Some people falsely believe a loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell. The truth is people choose to separate themselves from reuniting with God by rejecting Jesus. The just judgement for rejecting Jesus and living a life of independent defiance that dishonors God is banishment in an everlasting lake of fire (John 3:16-17, 3:36; Revelation 20:10-15).
- Some people falsely believe all good people go to heaven. The truth is no one is good enough to enter God’s presence. All have sinned and fall short of what it takes to live with a holy God. Yet by giving his innocent life in payment for our transgression, Jesus will graciously save anyone who believes (Romans 3:23-24, 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 10:9-10).
- Some people believe there are multiple ways or religions that lead to heaven. The truth is Jesus is the only way to God. Yet this is not exclusive, but rather it is all inclusive because there is nothing you can do to reach God and nothing you have done that can keep God from reaching you. Instead he has done everything for you to make life with him possible no matter who you are or what you have done. Salvation is a free gift from God through Jesus which anyone can accept by faith (John 14:6; Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Exchanging the truth for a lie is robbing us of a quality life now and will eventually destroy each of us unless we realign our false lives with the true life only God can give.
God wants to restore us for we are like wayward sheep who have gone astray. Jesus came to lead us back to God. We need to listen to his voice and not our own voice or that of Satan, who was the deceiver in the garden and still seeks to rob us and keep us from God today. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:7-10). He also warned, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Have you allowed Satan to steal your security and freedom, kill your peace, joy, and hope, and destroy the unity you could have with God? He is the father of lies, yet he disguises himself as an angel of light. His influence in this world is what perpetuates so much fraud and devastation. We can’t save ourselves from our own self-centeredness and we can’t seem to get out from under Satan’s influence. No wonder we see society crumbling and groaning for restoration. What can we do? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). When we trust and obey him he saves us from this world’s web of deadly deception. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). We need God’s reality to transform our lives through Jesus. He is our good news. Through him we can have eternal life. Through him we can spot, discern, and counteract fake news and false reality. Through him we can see clearly and act effectively to help others find true life too.
Life presents many contrasts, but none is so stark and impactful as choosing to live with God or apart from God. Now is the time to follow Jesus. At some point each of us will be held accountable for what we have done with the truth. When Jesus returns from heaven he will restore a righteous reality on earth. God will reward believers and judge unbelievers. For those who have rejected Jesus and chosen to live outside of God’s truth they will receive the result of their false reality. They will be given over to their preference for a life without God, which will be horrifying torment because it will be an eternity separated from all that is right, true, and good. Don’t choose the pale life of unbelief. Instead rejoice to base your life on the truth of God and taste the rich, sweet, full flavor he designed for you.
You can trust and obey Jesus starting today. Simply talk to him. Admit you were wrong to live for yourself and you want to live for him now. Recognize that Jesus is the only one who can save you from the deadly consequence of your self-centeredness and reunite you with God. Ask him to forgive all your wrongdoing and to help you to live rightly each day–to put God first and others before yourself. If you prayed this you can also thank God for giving you new, eternal life, because he promised that anyone who humbly comes to him like this will be saved. How exciting. This is just the beginning of all God has for you. If you want to grow now in following Jesus, or if haven’t yet come to trust Jesus but are seeking the truth I would be happy to answer any questions you have. You can also talk to a Christian friend or a pastor at a Bible-teaching church near you and I’m sure they would also be glad to help you grow in your faith.