Truth matters

One of the first lessons that parents impart to their children is the importance of telling the truth. But one of the first lessons that children learn in life is that it sometimes seems easier to lie that tell the truth. This is especially the case when they are tempted to be dishonest in order to avoid being punished for being naughty. Of course, when the lie unravels, they find themselves in double trouble. As the Good Book warns us “Be sure your sins will find you out.”

Relationships are based on trust and relations soon sour when it turns out that someone has not been altogether honest with us. When governments casually break their manifesto promises, the electorate quickly becomes disillusioned. The phone hacking scandal has broken the bond of trust between newspapers and their readers. If, on a personal level we discover that someone has lied to us, we find it difficult to believe their word ever again. Remember the boy who cried, “Wolf!”? The Christian faith recognises the vital importance of honesty. One of the Ten Commandments tells us, “You shall nor bear false witness”.

God is almighty. Nothing is impossible for him. But the Bible reveals that there is one thing that even he cannot do. He is “the God who cannot lie” (Titus 1:2). That explains why human beings, created in the image of God also have an inbuilt concern for truth. That is why dishonesty is an expression of something badly wrong with the human heart.

Christian believers follow Jesus not because their faith makes them feel good about themselves, but because they are convinced that the claims of Christ are true. We believe that he really is the Son of God who became man. We believe that he really did die on the cross for the sins of the world. We believe that he really did rise again from the dead. We believe that he really will give forgiveness and hope to all who trust in him. Truth matters. Jesus said, “I am the truth”. 

And if you think that speaking of faith with such conviction is off-putting in our age of fashionable posdmodern   doubt and uncertainty, then read this.