The Truth

Proverbs 12:17

He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.

The importance of truth seems to be a theme for me in the last week or so.  Everywhere I turn, my eyes are opened to its importance, and to the problems caused by the lack of it.  Reputations are built upon truth, and lies take down the mighty. 

 

Why is truth so important?  While there are certain personal benefits to being truthful, there is a bigger picture that is affected by our truth, or lack thereof.  In the various things we do in life, we often represent more than just ourselves.  At work, and even outside of work, I can be seen as representing my employer.  My conduct as an employee says something about my employer.  I have political beliefs.  When I discuss those or pass along information concerning my political beliefs in forums like this, I am seen as a representative of that political persuasion.  If I am dishonest and untruthful, then I am being a bad representative for my cause.  Anything where we associate ourselves will be positively or negatively impacted by how truthful we are.

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

As Christians, we represent truth.  As we see in the verse above, Jesus IS truth.  When we go about our lives, we are representing Jesus, and God.  If we are ever untruthful, or even less than careful with the truth, we will bring dishonor to God, and give cause for others to say that the God we represent is not truth.  We tarnish the name of the creator when we are not truthful.  This is why being truthful is of the utmost importance; because by it, we bring honor and glory to the God others see us as representing.

1 Thessalonians 5:22

Abstain from all appearance of evil.

I want to touch upon what I said about being less than careful with the truth.  The other day I passed along some information that turned out was old information.  I thought the information was current.  This led another to warn me about maybe being seen as not being honest because I was sharing “old news”.  It was an honest mistake on my part and no harm was intended, but I could have been more careful in finding out the whole story before passing it on.  Had I done a little research, it would have been easily discovered that the information was “old news” and could have been just dropped.  The situation made me appear untruthful.  I think maybe this is where the “slow to speak” comes in, lol (James 1:19)

Psalm 25:5

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Ultimately, as believers in the Lord, we can come to Him and ask Him to guide us in truth, to teach us what is true, and to live truthfully.  When we have that desire for truth in us, and that need to be truthful in what we say and do, that is THE truth, Jesus that lives within us.  He will show us the way into all truth and righteousness, and all we have to do is follow.