Only One TRUTH

My morning quiet time routine is pretty basic. Sometimes I do it before I go out to take care of the animals, sometimes I do it right after (it depends on how hot it is going to be that day). I sit down with my bible, my journal, and my phone (yes…my phone). I pull up the verse of the day on my Bible app and write it down in my journal, then I read the chapter it came from. I marinate on that for awhile, then I journal my thoughts. Sometimes my journaling has to do with the verse, sometimes it has to do with something else from the chapter, and sometimes it’s just something God put on my heart in that moment.

Today’s verse of the day is one we all know well, and was made even more famous when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted it during a speech in Michigan not long before his death.

In today’s culture, we have developed this mindset of multiple truths. While to an extent, I understand it, it really bothers me too. I spent a chunk of my career dealing with legal cases, including investigations of both administrative and criminal actions. Everyone who works with investigations knows that there are three sides to every story: his side, her side, and the truth, which typically lies somewhere in the middle. In this scenario (with today’s mindset) “his side” and “her side” would be “his truth” and “her truth”.

Just because my perspective may be skewed because of my own background and experiences, does NOT mean that my perspective is the truth. Any time you are in conflict with another person, they also have their own unique experiences and biases that will lead them to their own perspective. Honestly, more often than not, when we are unable to acknowledge other perspectives that are part of a conflict, which tends to lead to misunderstanding and even more discord.

What we must keep in mind is that while those events may form the truth for those parties, it doesn’t make them reality. People are blinded by so many things. These blinders can help shape our perspective of an event, but that doesn’t make what we see the TRUTH.

Context is everything.

Think about the Jim Carrey movie The Truman Show. Carrey’s character Truman Burbank has no idea that everything about his world is a lie. Truman is simply a pawn in a multimedia corperation reality television show. While he thinks his relationships are real, they are only real to him, since the other players are paid actors. He has been fed fears, lies, and false narratives to keep him from asking questions and seeking reality.

Truman lived his truth. That didn’t make it true. He started to question things as his reality started to crumble around him. Placing faith in something that isn’t real can have terrible consequences, as Truman himself found out.

Before context, Truman’s perception was flawed. It was flawed by his uninformed judgment of the people in his life, his preconceived notions of the world around him, and his own prior experiences throuoghout his staged existence.

The fact is, TRUTH is not subjective. TRUTH is not variable. TRUTH is simple.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was sacrificed so we might be cleansed from our sin and have eternal life.

No matter what individuals like to believe, there are not dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of different truths out there in the world. There is only one TRUTH. “And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 NLT