The Truth.

I just started a series on the “Whole Armor of God,” (Ephesians 6:10-20) and it has been one of my favorite teachings so far. I am so thankful that I can teach such young Christians the Bible! What an honor! I love developing relationships with my students, and showing them what is right and wrong. The best part of all of this is watching them actually live by the truth, and use what they learn in the Bible as the foundation of their lives. Isn’t that how it should be?


Last Sunday, I started with the first piece of armor, the “Belt of Truth.” The word truth is so intriguing to me. My sociology teacher defined a lie as “anything that alters the truth.” The way I see it, anything that is not the EXACT truth is a lie. There is no way of changing the truth. It has to be how it was originally intended. It cannot be how we want it to be, or how we perceive it. Society teaches us that “the truth is what you make it.” This saying is incorrect, and it would be dangerous for Christians to live by this. We know that the Bible is the truth (John 17:17), and that we are to live by this truth. You can look at it differently, but this doesn’t change the fact that it is still the truth. It IS what it IS. You can’t change it. If you alter the truth in the slightest way, than it is a lie.


Why does Paul tell us to put on the “Belt of Truth”?
What if we told non-believers whatever we wanted? Should we read the bible, and decide what it means? Did WE write the bible? Let’s just imagine this for a second: Christians falsely interpreting the Bible, and preaching false doctrine. Are we really going to live according to man’s own interpretation of the bible? If we don’t show non-believers the truth, than we are robbing them the chance knowing the truth, and causing them to stumble.


“15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.’”
(2 Timothy 2:15-19)


As Christians, interpreting the Bible with truth (which sometimes means we won’t like what we read in it) is vital. We must understand it in its TRUE form, live by it’s TRUTH, and preach it in it’s TRUE form. Living by a censored or altered version of the Bible (the truth) doesn’t work.


“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is the truth” (John 17:17)