During Jesus Christ's trial, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, asked Jesus if he was a king. Jesus replied, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilate responded with a famous question: "What is truth?" (John 18:37-38).
We often have the same question, many among us believing the truth to be relative and subjective rather than absolute and objective. However, relative or subjective truth is not the truth at all. It's like saying perhaps the earth revolves around the sun, or perhaps the sun revolves around the earth. Both cannot be true. It is the same thing with God.
Jesus is considered the absolute truth because he claimed to be the Son of God, and his life, teachings, death, and resurrection are believed to be historically and spiritually significant events that reveal the truth about God and humanity. When his Jewish listeners questioned his identity, he said to them: "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins" (John 8:23-24).
This has terrible consequences for people who do not believe in him. And the devil, whom Jesus called the "father of lies" (see John 8:44), has managed to persuade them that God is the liar. At the beginning of creation, after God made Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden, he told them about the danger of sinning. He said: "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die" (Genesis 2:16-17).
Now the serpent — that's the devil — was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman — that was Eve —, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1). He first planted doubt in the woman's head before making God out to be a liar. "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4-5).
Who was the liar? Sin entered the world, and man died. End of story? Not quite, because "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). And though "the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
Now, the devil continues to feed us with lies. If we choose to believe his lies, we remain separated from God. If, however, we believe God's truth, we have eternal life in heaven. There's nothing subjective about this. So, what do you choose? Let us choose truth today.
This is a vast subject that demands more clarity, so tonight, I will speak about it at length in my weekly session on Zoom. Please do attend it. To get the link, WhatsApp "AALIVE" to +91 90821 01605. It will also be telecast on this channel, so please click the subscribe button and the bell icon alongside to be notified when I go live.
God bless you.
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