Life Spark: “If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” (John 8:31-47)
Some of the people who were listening to Jesus’ teachings were beginning to come to the conclusion that He was the real deal. “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32, NIV)
Believing is a process (where NIV says they “had believed”, TLB says they “began believing him.” Faith can be faked. The Message says, that they “claimed to believe.”
It’s common to hear truth, grab hold, but let go. True belief is holding on for dear life. Only then does God’s truth set free you from the lies within you and around you. Then why do we let go of truth?
Two years ago, our family was boating at Shasta Lake in northern California. As we pulled up to the dock, I put one leg over onto the boards. Just then the boat pulled away from the dock, and I did the splits and injured my right hip. I held on to both the boat and the dock through the pain because I had my cell phone in my pocket. Ouch.
Likewise, holding on to Christ’s truth can bring pain before it brings freedom. It’s like the saying, ‘The truth will set you free, but it might make you miserable first.’ Maybe that is why so many of Christ’s critics, somewhere in their lives, let go of the truth.
The critics told Jesus that they were descendants of Abraham and in spite of Rome’s oppression, they were totally free spirits.
Then Jesus told them the truth about their lies. He told them that they were actually caught in a death trap, and that if they had been connected with the living God they would have recognized His totally truthful Son. (Jesus says “I tell you the truth” thirty times in the book of John.)
“The truth is,” Jesus said to the religious leaders, “As children of the devil and slaves of death, you will eventually kill me, even though I told you the truth that I heard from God.” At that, they accused Him of being a lying lunatic. When you call the One who totally personifies truth a liar, you’ve got a terrible case of truth decay!
Life-question: What is the worst case of truth decay you’ve ever seen in our culture? In your family? In yourself?