What is truth?

   Pontius Pilate uttered these three words before Jesus, not realizing that the very embodiment of truth stood before him.  Pilate did not believe truth could be grasped and so mocked the very notion of truly understanding it. His ignorance is understandable, though well educated as a Roman leader, he suffered under the prevailing mindset of his culture.  The gods of his world were mere symbols of authority and order, something to pay homage to, but not genuinely fathom. After all gods were idols made of stone, wood or metal and he had never learned the slightest thing from any one of them.

   In 2nd Thes. 2:10-12, we come face to face with the urgency of putting God's will absolutely first in our lives, as God speaks of some, who: "With all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not he love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judges who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

   Nothing is more central to our concept of God then the truth. Without it we are but one of many groups of people wandering aimlessly without hope. Sin began with a falsehood (Genesis 3) and Satan spreads his net with the idea that truth is subject to the current sensibilities of our society. Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). When men put tolerance and peace before truth and are willing to turn a blind eye to sin for the sake of unity chaos rules. No longer does the Word of God come first, but the feelings and sentiments of the members become the overriding goal. Let us not be naive, God will allow us to harden our hearts with such mindsets (Eph. 4:17-24) and with our consciences seared (1st Tim.4:2) we will become overrun with error (Zech. 7:12-14). This is precisely why we dare not cultivate evil and error, and allow Satan to get his foot in the door (1st Peter 5:8).

   In view of the coming of Christ, which may come at any moment, we must be active, busy and watchful in the Master's cause, The only way to be ready is to stay ready. Heaven is prepared for the prepared. Christ must be Lord of all or He will not be Lord at all. Only the truth can make us free. Learning it comes first, but that is not enough. We do not really cherish the Scriptures until we put it into action in our lives (Heb. 5:9). We cannot claim to stand up for the truth while allowing error to run rampant.

   It is not because a issue has no right or wrong side that causes confusion but our inability to see it or accept it.