truth

(Part 2 of 5 on the book of Acts)

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” — 3 John 1:4

How important is truth to God? From Genesis 3 (in which the lie of the serpent—“you will not surely die”—forever alters creation), through Revelation 19 (where the rider on the white horse is called “Faithful and True”), there are hundreds of references to truth and lying in scripture.

Hebrews 6:18 tells us “it is impossible for God to lie.” Conversely, Jesus states in John 8:44 that satan is “a liar and the father of lies.” The Psalmist talks repeatedly of desiring truth, walking in truth, and trusting in the word of truth. Isaiah 53:9 foretells the coming of One who has “no deceit in his mouth.” And, in fulfillment of that prophesy, Jesus over and over begins his teachings with the statement “I tell you the truth” and plainly states in John 14:6 that he is the truth.

Without a doubt, God values truth and defines it in absolute terms. The more thorny question is, do we?

According to at least one recent survey, Americans in general think that truth is relative, with a third of respondents saying that truth always depends on the circumstances and another third saying they just don’t know if truth is absolute.

In Acts 5 we can read the stark and cautionary tale of two members of the early church—Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple—who shared this belief that truth is relative and, therefore, inconsequential. But in one of scripture’s hardest teachings, we see that truth is anything but inconsequential.

Ananias and Sapphira had recently witnessed Barnabas, a fellow member of the church, sell his property and give the money to the apostles to be distributed to those in need. The couple decided to follow Barnabas’s lead, but with one key difference. They kept back part of the money for themselves. This would not have been a problem, except that Ananias and Sapphira told everyone that their contribution was the full amount they received for the land.

Maybe they thought their lie was harmless… after all, they were giving a significant amount to the church. Or perhaps they craved recognition for their generosity and thought the full truth might tarnish their image.

Regardless of the circumstances that dictated their definition of the truth, Ananias and Sapphira paid a heavy price: They both fell dead when confronted with their lie. The Apostle Peter was very clear about the nature of their sin when he said to them, “You have not lied to men but to God” and, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Although we tend to rank lying fairly low on our mental inventory of “sin seriousness”—well below murder, for example, but just above exceeding the speed limit—God is a holy and truth-filled God. All sin (including lying) would separate us eternally from him, were it not for the fact that Jesus took the full weight of our sin on himself when he went to the cross. Because of his sacrifice, our earnest repentance will always lead us back to where we belong—back into the holy, loving, merciful, forgiving arms of the Lord.

In C.S. Lewis’s final Chronicles of Narnia novel—The Last Battle—one of the characters involved in the epic final struggle between Good and evil realizes something significant: “And then she understood the devilish cunning of the enemies’ plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger.”

This was where Ananias and Sapphira went so terribly wrong. Their lie may have contained an element of truth. But it was still a lie. And in God’s Kingdom, truth is not relative.

Father, would you create in me a heart that loves truth? Would you reveal to me any areas of my life where I have embraced the kind of relative truth that is not of your Kingdom, but of the world? You are truth. May I live a life that reflects that unconditional fact. I ask all this in the name of Jesus, the Way…the Truth…and the Life.