Living by truth

Two weekends ago my church's Young Adults Sunday School Class held a retreat under the theme "Experiencing Truth?" where we explored the implications of living according to experience rather than according to truth.

An example of living by experience rather than truth is as follows:

People allow the experience of suffering make them doubt that God is good, which is truth:
Psalm 136:1 - Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever.
We should never let circumstances take us off the path of truth.

Living based on experience is dangerous because experiences vary whereas truth remains constant regardless of external factors. Because truth is constant, living by truth makes us grounded, so we can withstand the storms of life. We should place a high priority on accumulating truth early in life, so that we would not be forced to rely on experiences due to an absence of truth.

Our being "blessed" in life is not determined by external factors (e.g. loving relationships, stable career, good home) but by the depth of our walk with God (Psalm 1:1) So we should not live our lives based on our experiences and feelings, but based on the truth of God's Word. Knowing what God's Word says will help us to live by truth, rather than being deceived based on our experiences.

We also contrasted truth and reality. Reality is based on what we experience, which varies from person to person. Truth does not change based on whether or not people accept it. The truth of the Word of God gives true freedom, and helps us move beyond the limitation of our present reality, enabling us to create a new reality. Miracles are examples of truth overcoming reality.

In Matthew 14:22-33, Peter recognised that Jesus had the power to make him walk on water. In spite of the realness of what he was experiencing (gravity), it was not the truth, since he was able to walk on water. We need to recognise that sometimes God is directing us to move outside of our experience, and we need to have the faith to obey. God is able to change our reality, but too often we give in to fear, focusing on what we are experiencing rather than truth. When we doubt, we are denying God's ability and His truth to sustain us. We need to trust in the truth of the One who sees the full picture, rather than focusing on what we cannot see, because many times, we cannot see further than the next step ahead.

Truth has no substitute. Truth is eternal. Truth supersedes human wisdom and reality. To some, the truth will not make sense, and may even be offensive. But as Christians, we have an individual responsibility to live by truth, not allowing reality to detract us from the truth; and we have a corporate responsibility to live by truth, because this impacts the lives of those around us.

Young Adults purposing to live by truth!