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 Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right; for my mouth will utter truth. Proverbs 8:6-7  

At the risk of sounding like a freshman philosophy student, I want to ask this question of you all, “What is truth?”  Everybody seems to think they have it, but ironically, we would probably all agree that the world is lacking it these days.   

Is my truth better than your truth?  Is there just one truth or are there many “truths”?  And who gets to decide what the truth is?  Does there have to be two sides to every issue?  Or does the truth stand alone?   

Are you as confused as I am?  As baffling as it might seem, it is an important question to ask as a church. Truth is a spiritual issue as much as it is a philosophical one, because truth isn’t just an abstract concept; according to our readings today, truth is at the very heart of who God is. 

In the reading from John, Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of Truth” – a truth that comes from God.  And we hear from Proverbs that “Wisdom” only utters truth. And Jesus calls himself the Truth as well.  So it seems to me that as Christians, we should be very interested in what the truth actually is!  

But sometimes that’s hard.  Having all the world’s information at our fingertips has perhaps given us all a false confidence.  Why trust an expert when I can Google the information myself?  It often equips us with just enough knowledge to be dangerous, but not enough to be effective.   

That’s why when seeking the truth about important issues like Global Warming, or dangerous diseases or historical facts, or Biblical truths for that matter, we have to learn to trust the experts on the issues – people who have accumulated decades of knowledge, experience and wisdom – not because they will always be right, but because we acknowledge our own lack of understanding.   

As Christians, it’s important to discern hard truths and trust in the experience of those who know more than us, because where the truth is, there we’ll find God.