I find myself in a weird place for a Christian to be as of late. I find myself empathizing with the man who ultimately condemned my Savior, Jesus Christ. That man is Pontius Pilate. Now needless to say, I don’t empathize with everything, just with his most famous question, “What is truth?”
We live in a weird world, and not in a good way. We live in a world of egalitarian information, basically everyone with an opinion can have a media channel. The thing is, with all these channels vying for my attention it can really become hard to separate fact from fiction. The more “mainstream media” (if there is such a thing) is often no help, though there are no doubt many who are out there in the media trying to do a good job. The pressure to fill a 24 hour news cycle, has got to be insane and many channels appear to be more concerned with appeasing advertisers and advancing their corporate and political agenda than they are at telling me what happened, and trusting me to form my own opinion. Hold on to that word trust, it comes into play later.
Take into account the reprehensible attack on the Capitol this week. What is truth? One moment I am finding myself truly upset at what happened. I am a recovering political junkie, who is now trying to stay “politically sober,” one day at a time. That being said, I still lean somewhat right, at least to the point where it was heart breaking to see people who claim to be conservative acting that way. Then seemingly mere minutes later, I was seeing the “reports” that the “horned protester” was also spotted at Antifa rallies, and photos of another protester with a hammer and sickle tattoo on his hand, and I’ll admit part of me wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. “Calm down, Dave, the protest was infiltrated by bad actors from the ‘other side.” About the same time, another thought reared up. “Are you sure that’s true, Dave or do you just want it to be true?” Once again, “What is truth?”
I mean I’m not the world’s most skilled guy at Photoshop, but even I can convincingly manipulate a photograph. I will say I’ve never done it for deceptive purposes, but I know I could, were it not for that word mentioned above, “trust.” You see I’m a Christian, and if we can’t be trusted, where will hope be found? We live in a world seeking truth, and as Christians, we follow the One who said “I am the Truth,” which brings us back to Pilate. You see, while he was asking “What is truth?” Christians believe the personification of truth was staring him in the face. Church, we are the body of Christ. When people see us, they’re supposed to be looking truth in the eye. This puts an incredible pressure on us. What my opinion is, and what I want to be true, is irrelevant. If I represent Jesus, what I say must be true, and if I don’t know if something is true, I should be silent, or at the very least, I should make it clear, that what I am sharing may or may not be true.
See, if whether you call an event is a peaceful protest or a riot, depends on your political views, and those of the people taking action, you’re no longer speaking truth. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Taking a stand for truth is honorable. Doing harm to others is not. Now I would be lying if I said I have never failed in this area. I’d be lying if I said I have never spoken up on behalf of what I wanted to be true, however I must repent of this, because as a Christian who has been entrusted with creatively communicating the unchanging truth that sets men free, I can’t afford to lean on my opinions to advance any agenda but the perfect one that comes from the Perfect One. I also can’t afford to alter truth, for the sake of satisfying the itching ears of society, who wants something else to be true. The world is asking, “What is truth?” If I want to be trustworthy, I have to live, act and speak like I have a relationship with the Truth personified, Jesus Christ. This won’t always help me win popularity contests, but if I want people to come to trust the One in whom I have placed my trust, I have to be a creative voice of truth, rather than a voice of creative “truth.”
The world doesn’t need my opinions or my personal agenda, it needs my Savior.
He is the TRUTH!
AMOKArts 