Love Rejoices in the Truth

I think Jack Nicholson was speaking to me, when he was shouting, “You can’t handle the truth.”

I think he was right - I can’t handle the truth. Not on my own. There are simply too many questions, with too many answers, and too many truths to go around.

Jack Nicholson’s classic line and A Few Good Men was released more than 25 years ago. Can we handle the truth any better today? Can we figure out who is telling the truth from the multiple stories we hear? We can watch the same testimony from the same people and reach different conclusions. Do you believe her? Do you believe him? Do you believe them? Which one is telling the truth and how can we know for certain?

We’ve been trying to figure out what is the truth for years, going all the way back. Vintage gameshow like “To Tell the Truth” seem mostly harmless until we’re actually trying to figure out who’s telling the truth which matters most in our lives.

Paul made a comparison for us in 1 Corinthians 13:6. Love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Our world says there are multiple truths. Your truth is yours and my truth is mine. That kind of statement doesn’t align with what Paul writes, and it definitely doesn’t match what God gives us in His Word.

In a conversation recorded between Jesus and His disciples, Jesus reveals that He is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” There are not multiple truths, your truth and my truth.

There is One Truth: Jesus.

Jesus promises to help us understand His Truth, by sending His Holy Spirit, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” I can’t understand the Truth without Him. He knows this! He sends some truth help.

Jesus prays for you and me, asking the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” I can’t make myself holy without Him. Jesus knows we’re trapped, prisoners to all of the lies swirling around us. He knows this! He sends some holiness help – through his sacrifice of brave love, and through His always truthful brave Word.

When I read the Word, when I look around me, I can’t always rejoice in the Truth. He knows this! He sends me His brave Spirit, so I can understand. He actually rejoices in me, when I am out of rejoicing. When I’m having a hard time rejoicing in truth, I rejoice in my Savior — the One who is Truth.

Heidi’s reflections:

I especially have a hard time rejoicing in the truth when it’s a hard topic. As a social worker, I am confronted with lots of different ways people choose to live their lives and I don’t always feel comfortable about what the Bible teaches about those things. To complicate it, I have to discern what the Bible says and what people are just making up. Most of the time that leaves me far from rejoicing, but instead frustrated and even angry. It is so comforting to me when Matt tells me God knows, God sends help. I cry out, “I need some help for this one, God!” and He listens, He discerns with me, He helps me in the wrestling, and that is worth some rejoicing.