Truth

I am kind of a nerd. In fact, when I realized it was my week to blog on the topic of “truth” it was all I could do to not focus my writing around a catchphrase from my all-time favorite conspiracy theory- based sci-fi show.

But I decided to spare the readership that torture.

However, I will torture you with my current nerdy obsession: talk radio podcasts. I love podcasts about science and technology or criminology or just the art of storytelling. This week, incidentally, two days after Sunday’s message, I began listening to one particular podcast that examines thoughts and how these shape human behavior.

In the first episode, the story followed a man struggling with very dark thoughts that were bombarding him – violent thoughts about harming and even killing people he loved. He began to worry that these thoughts defined who he was and that he’d eventually succumb to the actions suggested by his brain. These thoughts began to disrupt his normal life.

The young man began seeing a psychologist who helped him understand that these thoughts did not define him. The psychologist taught him various techniques to drive away the troublesome ideas and thus resume normal life. He had to come to the realization that these thoughts were not true.

Our message this past weekend centered on “truth.” We learned that the idea of absolute truth is a fleeting notion in a postmodern society. The “relativity of truth” is rampant and creating “one’s own truth” is the norm. In 2015, the lie that society has accepted is that our thoughts determine our truth.

On Sunday, we also learned that absolute truth can be found, it must be acted upon and anything untrue must be rejected. If you missed the message and haven’t had a chance to listen to it, I would encourage you to do so!

As I further meditated on Sunday’s message and then began listening to the aforementioned nerdy podcast, I was also reminded of part of the life group teaching from our Transformed series on mental health: Don’t believe everything you think.

Yes, our thoughts are not always to be trusted, as obviously demonstrated in my opening story about the man in the podcast. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” The world would tell us, follow your heart. Do what you think is right for you. The Bible tells us just the opposite.

Scripture also tells us that we need to take action over untruths that pop into our heads. 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us that we are to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

It is increasingly vital as Christians that we study the word voraciously. We need to know exactly what it says in an effort to battle not only the onslaught of ideas and worldviews that press in on us from every side, but also our own internal thoughts that attempt to formulate false truth for us.

So this week, let’s focus on the truth of God’s word and let it sink deep into our way of thinking:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11.

Written by: Jaime Hlavin

Edited by: Jenelle Kelly