Truth About Truth

It is amusing to me when someone is asked to testify in court. The familiar scene is where we are asked to place our left hand on the Bible, raise the right hand, and solemnly swear to “tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me, God”. I have several observations about this process of finding the truth. We are solemnly swearing as opposed to casually. I would think anytime we swear it should be serious and solemn, don't you? Next, we are challenged to commit to telling the whole truth instead of parts of it. A half truth will not do. To be truthful, a half truth is really a whole lie. Then we ask God to help us tell the truth. Do we actually need God's help to tell the truth? I believe it is here that our civil and secular judicial system has stumbled upon one of the greatest truths of the human condition. We actually do need God's help to tell the truth and live truthful lives. We are natural born liars. The good news is that our lives can be transformed by truth. We are changed when we know truth and act upon that knowledge.
Have you ever been deceived and learned some very painful truth that you really didn't want to know? It may be similar to a man who learned his wife was unfaithful in their marriage. When she confessed it to him, he wanted to stop her in the middle of her confession. He did not want to deal with the truth of it all and pretend that it never happened. Sadly, he could not remain in denial and still know the truth. As long as he pretended to be in a healthy and happy marriage, he could not be a part of its restoration. He either had to be bound to the lie or live with the truth. Thankfully, some storybook romances, that are really fantasies and fables in disguise, can really be transformed into happy endings. In this example, the husband and the wife turned to the truth of the situation and experienced a restoration of their marriage. They found that when they learned to live by godly principles based on God's word, they could know the truth and be set free. God is glorified when we come into the knowledge of His truth. It is His secret that He freely shares. Truth transforms us. The question that man has sought the answer for since ages past is not what is truth, but who is truth. Truth is not found with our hands on the Bible. When we open our bibles, truth is found on the inside... in the heart of this book we will find the heart of God. He is Truth. He said so.