1 Timothy 3:15, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
While growing up in North East Georgia, my mama and daddy always stressed the importance of telling the truth. I can remember them saying, “Even if it hurts you, just tell the truth.” In my short experience on this earth I’ve learned it’s easier to tell the truth than to hide a lie.
With the subject of truth in mind, we should consider the question asked by Pontius Pilate in John 18:38 ,”What is truth?” When we ponder upon this question, the first thing that should come to mind is, God is truth! Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life” (emphasis mine). Another thing that should quickly come to mind is God’s Word. According to Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:…” Since God’s Word is truth, it is always profitable to tell or teach us what’s right, what’s wrong, how to get right when we’re wrong, and how to stay right when we are right. David said in Psalm 138:2, “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” Wow, that verse amazes me every time I read it.
In 2 John verse 2 we read about something that caused John to rejoice greatly, “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.” John’s “greatly rejoicing” in this verse was about the Church, the children of God who were meeting together to worship, preaching, praying, singing and living in the truth. You may ask, “Why was the truth so important to John?” That answer would take more time than we have in this effort, but one thing should be noted, John loved his Lord Who taught him the truth. John understood the truth because he had spent time with Jesus and when he witnessed others laboring “walking in the truth”, it caused his heart to be filled with happiness.
In our efforts to please God, we should examine ourselves daily (2 Corinthians 13:5). The Lord has given us a standard to use to make this examination or judgement. It’s the plumb line that has come down from heaven, His Word (see Amos 7:7-8 for an example of a plumb line). When we use God’s Word as the standard, do we align with what it says? Does our worship service have a “Thus sayeth the Lord” in everything that we do? Do the everyday activities of our lives contradict what God has called us to be? Brothers and sisters, I realize we are not perfect, and we live in a sinful world, yet with a continual looking into God’s Word we are able to overcome much of the deception and untruth in this world. And without question we should work diligently to learn the truth and live our lives according to the truth. God has equipped us. God has promised to help us. Will we be found as many who walk according to the rules of the world, or will we be like Joshua, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15)? Amen!