John 18:37-38 “For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.” Pilate asked, “What is truth?”
We are living in a time whereby truth has become exceedingly difficult to authenticate. This has caused many to have a crisis of faith. How do we arrive at the truth? Certainly, proper facts correctly arranged can lead to true conclusions. Yet facts that are ignored or obscured can lead seekers of truth to false conclusions. More complicated still, in this age of information distortion, how can anyone be sure they can ever arrive at a truthful conclusion? Searching vast shores for grains of trustworthy information, battling one another for the gold medal in search of truth has left us toothless, truth-less, exhausted, and divided.
“What is truth?” Some say that everyone has their own truth, that truth is relative, or that truth is based on who you listen to. Jesus said, “Those who are of the truth listen to My voice.” That is the key. If we do not perceive His meaning of truth and listen to His voice, we will be lost with Pilate, searching for truth on the shores of worldly knowledge. The truth to which Jesus was born to testify isn’t based on facts and conclusions. This real truth is not what we know about any topic, but how we act, regardless of what we think we know. Truth is how we treat one another. Truth is how we respond to being mistreated. Trying to understand facts isn’t wrong, but condemning others based on our perception of those facts is. Since the world began, atrocities have been committed in the name of fact-based “truth.” Facts can confuse and imprison, but truth sets us free! Jesus – who He is and how He is – is the truth. This is the foundational concept of Christianity which we seem to have lost.
As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, I pray we reconsider His words: “For this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth.” This is also the reason for our existence: to know the truth, to walk in it, and to testify of it. We can listen to the voice of the world and be divided by our “truths” or listen to Him. Jesus did not come to condemn, but living the truth, He was condemned by the maddened crowd. His response to hatred, false accusation, and condemnation was love. His life, His words, and His actions were His testimony to the perfect truth. This is the reason He was born!