In Hindsight - Vol. 6

In John 18:38 Pontius Pilate asks Jesus a very simple question; "What is truth?" Was Pilate cynically viewing truth as relative, or was he genuinely asking? While the intent behind Pilate’s question is not completely clear, the question itself is a profound one. What is truth? With all the differing information going around right now in regards to the coronavirus pandemic I've been asked several times "what do you think is true?" What I find fascinating is that no matter what we face, we as humans want to know what's true.

A popular statement today is for individuals to “speak their truth.” But what does this even mean? Can we have different versions of the truth? In some ways truth can be subjective and the reality of a situation can be perceived differently by different individuals. When I say that bacon is the greatest food in the world, that might be true for me, but grossly false for someone with a bacon allergy. What we think of as the best color, or movie, or time of year can all be different for different people. This, however, is not what those who speak of their "own truth" seem to be implying.

On the other side, there is objective truth. Things that are true for everyone no matter what. The world is round, the earth revolves around the sun, and it’s generally a good idea to bathe once in a while. While we would all say those things are true, there was a time when all of those things were considered to be false (yes, even the thing about bathing). Our view of things and grasp on facts seems to be constantly changing, so how can we know what really is true?

As Jesus was praying for His followers before His crucifixion, He asked His Father to “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). In a world full of things that are always shifting, there is one thing that remains the same; the Word of God is truth. During this time of uncertainty, we can find comfort in the fact that God's Word was true when it was written, is true for us today, and will remain true into the future.

In Him,
Pastor Michael

A recent article noted that sometimes asking a simple question like "How are you?" can actually shut a conversation down rather than open it up. More often than not when someone is asked "How are you?" the response is usually something like, "Good," whether or not that's true.

Here are some questions to try to go beyond "How are you?"

• How are you taking care of yourself today?
• What part of sheltering in place have you come to appreciate the most?
• What habit have you started or broken during quarantine?
• Which place are you most looking forward to visiting after this is all over?
• What's been the easiest part about quarantine? What's been the hardest?
• What's something that you miss that surprises you? What did you think you'd miss that you really haven't?
• What times of the day or week are the hardest?
• What's the best thing that happened to you today?
• What was the high point of your last week? What was the low point?
• What do you hope we all learn or take away from this time?