I Am the Truth

"I am the truth."—John 14:6

One time, I watched a spider. It had spun a pretty web. Unknown to a wandering fly, some of the strands were coated with a sticky substance. The fly dropped down on the web. It got tangled in the web. Then the spider came out from the edge of the web where it had been waiting. Repeatedly, it attacked the fly until the fly was dead. Then the spider had its meal. 

Like an evil spider, the devil weaves a web of lies. Jesus said, "the devil is a liar and the father of lies"(John 8:44). Adam and Eve got caught in Satan's web of lies and the whole world has suffered as a result. 

But Jesus is the truth. He came "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). When I think of truth, I think of the solid bedrock under the skyscrapers as in Chicago. In 1971, I took my family to downtown Chicago. We saw on Wacker Drive where workers had dug a huge hole. They excavated the dirt until they got down to bedrock. Then they erected what was known as Sears Tower. Jesus is like the bedrock. We can safely build our lives on his Word. He is reliable. He can be trusted. 

In connection with the ninth of the ten commandments, the Heidelberg Catechism calls on us to "love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it." In court we are called on to "speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God." (Sadly, some courts have recently dropped the phrase, so help me God.)

When we speak the truth, we can be trusted. Truth is the glue that holds people together. May God give us discernment to be able to detect lies now and always.