2024 Challenge: Embrace the Truth

This blog is my second challenge to myself and the readers as we begin the New Year. My first challenge was to read the entire Bible during the 2024 calendar year. The second challenge is to embrace the truth. I deliberately issued the challenge to read the entire Bible during 2024 before I issue this challenge to embrace the truth. The Bible is the book of truth, and we need the truth of the Bible in order to embrace the truth.

Nothing will be more important for us than to embrace the truth as we embark on the year 2024. We know that 2024 is an election year. You will be exposed to political ads, political rallies and a constant barrage of information related to a host of politicians and political campaigns. All of what you hear cannot be truth because much of what is said and what you hear will be conflicting information. Obviously, a commitment to embrace the truth should be the highest priority.

When Jesus was on trial and standing before Pilate, Pilate asked the very important question, what is truth? "Pilate said to Him, 'What is truth?' And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, 'I find no fault in Him at all'" (John 18:38). Pilate clearly knew that Jesus was innocent of the accusations brought against Him by the Jews. The question was, would he embrace the truth? The Jews exerted pressure on Pilate. "From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, 'If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar'" (John 19:12). The pressure of the Jews and Pilate own political interest won out. He later gave the order for Christ to be crucified.

Jesus had actually answered Pilate's question before Pilate ever ask it. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

These scriptures make it plain that Jesus is the ultimate truth, and He alone is the source of salvation and eternal life. Truth is certainly important in the spiritual realm of life. It is equally important in all realms of life. If we do not embrace truth, we will be deceived. We will fall into error. More importantly, we place ourselves in grave danger when we fail to embrace the truth. This danger is spelled out clearly in Romans 1:25, "Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

Accepting the premise that nothing will be more important for us than embracing the truth in 2024, how can we proceed in accepting this challenge?

We must first value the truth. The things we clutch the tightest and hold the dearest to our hearts are the things we value the most. We do not embrace things we do not value, and we will not embrace truth if we do not value truth.

It should be natural to value truth, but other things can usurp the value of truth in our lives. For example, political ideology has definitely gained a foothold in our nation and some people are very willing to place political ideology over truth. Their desire to win elections, achieve political goals or reap monetary rewards become more important than truth. Sadly, even professing Christians have been seduced by these temptations. All of us who are professing Christians need to be reminded of the premium Jesus placed on the truth. Consider His words in John 8:31,32.

We do not have to be pagans to allow other things to become more valuable to us than truth. Selfish interest can actually gain control over us. Sometimes living ethical, moral lives in a sinful, fallen world is not the path to climbing man's ladder of success. The way of dishonesty or compromise may yield more of the world's delicacies. In the end, the greatest value always lies in the truth. This is why Paul gave us a final statement in Philippians 4:8 as to what we should pursue in life.

There is a second thing we must do to embrace truth beyond valuing truth.

We must embrace reality as truth. We live in a very perplexing and extremely dangerous time today. It is a time when sane, intelligent people watch reality unfold before their very eyes and say that what they see is not reality. Rather than embracing what they see as obvious reality, they consign it to the realm of a hoax, a devious plot or a clever deception. The perpetrators of this so-called hoax, plot or deception may be anyone or anything. The perpetrators are never clearly proven or identified, but the reality is denied.

I understand that deception can be very real, and anyone can be deceived. At the same time, I know that reality is very real. Not only is reality real, but reality is also always the truth whether or not we witness it or even know about it. What is real and only what is real is what is true. The cross on which Jesus died and the empty tomb from which He arose are realities. Because they are realities and only because they are realities, the gospel message is and always will be the truth. No number of atheists who deny the very existence of God can change this reality and the truth it reveals.

It is not just the upcoming 2024 elections that make embracing reality as truth of monumental truth, it is the very future of our planet and our lives on this planet. If we deny reality, we will forsake the truth for a lie. The results will eventually be disastrous, if not in the short term, then, surely, in the long term.

Why do sane people not stand on railroad tracks in the paths of speeding trains? There is a one-word answer to this question, reality! People know the reality of the human body being struck by a speeding train. They do not survive. The reality is so stark, obvious and destructive that people respect the reality and protect themselves by approaching railroad tracks with alertness and caution.

There are no ideological arguments about the reality of standing in front of speeding trains. Our own self-interest prevents us from making such a foolish mistake.

There are denials related to reality going on in our world today that are not as obvious as the reality of standing in front of a speeding train, but who can say for certain that they will not be just as disastrous!

For our own sake, for the sake of those we love and for the sake of humanity, will you make a commitment to embrace the truth in 2024? By the grace of God, I do! Will you join me!