The Burden of Truth and the Unbearable Lightness of Being

As my friend Jordan Evans heard from me last night, Truth is preeminent. Okay, now before I get into my topic, I want to point out that I don't use uncommon words for the simple fact that they're uncommon. Well, usually. I use less common or bigger words because they have a more exact definition, closer to the meaning I'm trying to convey. Now that point in itself relates to the topic of this particular post, but it's half me being clear about why I do something, half me being prideful and defending my use of pretentious words.

Preeminent: (adj.)  [pree-em-uh-nuhnt] (taken from Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster.com)
1. above or before others, superior, surpassing

2. having paramount rank, dignity, or importance : outstanding, supreme 

If Truth is not placed at the highest position, everything goes to crap. If we begin to get into Deconstructionism and Post-Modernism and Existentialism and all those philosophies, we quickly lose sight of Truth and meaning. If Truth is treated as an undefinable, nebulous thing that means whatever we want it to, everything falls apart. Morality is gone, purpose is gone. Truth is definable, yes, but determining exactly what Truth is is impossible without Jesus.

Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 ESV, emphasis added.

Truth is the only way people can relate to each other. People are so very different, their biases, their experiences, their prejudices, how can we ever hope to relate to other people? We share experiences, interests, we share Truth.  The same way, it is through Jesus and only through Jesus that we can relate to God. He is our sacrifice, our high priest, our mediator. 

Example time, based off an experience the other day. Here we have an apple:

The apple is green. One may call this particular shade of green Kelly green, another may call it grass green. Either have many valid reasons why they believe it is that color, let's say one is an artist, the other is a screenprinter. To them, the apple is the color they say it is, but regardless of what they say, the apple is the color that it is. They could both very well be wrong, but their wrongness or rightness does not change the color of the apple. That is Truth, and Truth is unaffected by people. Incontrovertible.

My first point is that Truth is so incredibly important. It's something I've been thinking so much about lately. People get well caught up in their ideas and presuppositions and even things they've learned and they often lose sight of the Truth. I understand the need for knowledge and its importance, but I also know that things people have believed beyond the tiniest shadow of a doubt to the point of putting people to death because they didn't believe the same have been proven wrong, one example being when people thought the earth was the center of the universe. It was heretical to believe otherwise. The Truth that the earth is not the center of the universe hasn't ever changed, though. How then do we pursue Truth rather than knowledge, which has been proven wrong many times before? It's Jesus. Oh my, is it ever Jesus.

I try really hard to attain truth. I miss it a lot since I'm human. It's frustrating most often since I'm wrong a lot and it's much easier to go about life leaning on my and others' suppositions. But that just doesn't work. That doesn't quite settle it for me. Now I'm not saying I'm always, 100% of the time truthful. Whether it be a misunderstanding or my own pride, I don't speak truth. But then I feel dumb and go about trying to have Truth around my waist, holding my pants up so I don't show my ass again. For the purpose of finding Truth, I try to be precise in my language so people get what I'm saying rather than what they think I'm saying. Again, I'm bad at this sometimes and I don't get my point across, but it's better to keep trying.

So, point one is this: Jesus is Truth. Truth is found only in Him. For this reason and the reason that Truth is the only thing that we can count on, Truth is and ought to be preeminent to all.

Now then, the unbearable lightness of being. The book where I got that phrase from focuses on the idea that since we have only one life, there's not much pressure. In a way, our one life is incredibly important and heavy because it is our one and only shot. At the same time, however, the Bible talks about how our days are like a breath, here then gone. A single breath, a patch of dust, these things aren't important and are quickly gone. Everything we do is both exalted and made humble by Jesus' sacrifice. Our works alone don't save us, Jesus does, our faith does. Our faith is dead without works, however, so they are indeed important. All this, however, is well overshadowed by Jesus dying on the cross. 

People place so much importance on this life, forgetting that it's a very, very small part of the story. This side of eternity literally can not compare to the other side. It doesn't work mathematically. The point is to do our absolute best while having in mind the fact that Jesus has saved us and we cannot compare or come close to doing anything anywhere near the worth of what Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit do every day. I don't think I need a lot more explaining than that, I'd just be rambling and repeating myself if I did. And I never do that...

Sarcasm aside, be happy. Happiness is important. It's hard to want to do anything side from acquainting yourself with a pint of Ben and Jerry's if you're unhappy. Being, existing, doing life isn't so nearly as hard as we think. Jesus has promised to take care of us. Job went through some incredibly hard times, but was doubly blessed when it was all over. Pain recedes, our old bodies are glorified, we meet Jesus face to face.

To recap: Truth is found only in Jesus. Truth is the only hope for an imperfect and unholy people.  Life is ultimately easy because we have Jesus. The reward is much greater that we can see. 

Love,

Colton

P.S. I didn't stress enough our personal burden of Truth. Truth is important, but the only way it can have the prevalence it needs is if we all constantly put aside ourselves and seek Truth. We must seek Truth. Not knowledge, not opinions, nothing but Truth. That, and I must stress this one more time, is only found in Jesus Christ. Everything else is chaff. We are commanded to bring the Gospel, the Good News, to all the world before Jesus returns, the Gospel being the Truth of Jesus. It is our duty, which is only able to be accomplished with and through God. Go speak Truth.