Abiding In Truth - Finding Rest in a Restless World

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6, NLT)

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32, ESV)

“When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees. Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-9, NLT)

We have explored the truth that God is always with us, even in the times when He seems to be hidden. Today we will explore how we discern truth in a world that often feels confusing and contradictory.

Living in a society with social media, artificial intelligence, and ongoing division and disagreement, we might find ourselves asking now more than ever: What is actually true? Can anything really be trusted? And beneath those questions lies an even deeper one: What even is truth? Many now doubt that absolute truth can be known at all.

Here again, we discover that this question is not new. Nearly two thousand years ago, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” It’s an easy question to ask. But Pilate doesn’t wait for the answer. Instead, he turns and walks away (John 18:38).

We can’t miss the irony. Pilate asks this to Christ, who doesn’t merely claim to teach the truth, but to be the Truth incarnate. On the night before His death, Christ told His disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). In Him, truth is not an idea to be comprehended, but a person to know and love, who in all truth sees, knows, and loves you.

In a world where so much feels uncertain, where it’s sometimes difficult to discern what is true, we can meditate on Christ’s words: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32, ESV).

He spoke these words to people who already believed in God, who knew the stories of the Old Testament, especially the story of the Exodus, where God led His people from slavery into freedom (chapters 13–14).

We are all being formed by something: by mass media and social media, by the stories we listen to and the ones we tell ourselves, by the wounds we carry and the fears we find hard to shake. Jesus invites us to abide in His Word, to be formed by it, and to know Him as the Source of Truth, who makes and remakes us.

Augustine confessed, “I was as afraid of shedding all my burdens as I should have been afraid of shouldering them.”

It sometimes feels vulnerable to step into the light of the truth. Right from the start of the broken world, the human tendency was to hide. Yet, God sought Adam and Eve in their hiding (Genesis 3:8-9). And He seeks us still. He promises us that in holding to His truth, we will be set free.

Thoughts to Ponder

Consider whether there is a belief you may be holding that is not true. What does God’s Word say that brings truth to it? And how might this truth begin to set you free today? Make time to abide in His truth.