Pondering Abundant Life
“What is truth, retorted Pilate.” He stood before Jesus, face to face with Truth and yet did not recognize it. I suppose we can stand before the truth and not see it. Why was it so hard for Pilate to see truth? Was he afraid of the truth? Did he think it would cost him something? Was he blinded?
What is truth? I suppose it depends on who you ask. My truth may be different from the next person’s as different variables, influencers and circumstances color the lens through which we each see truth. So whose truth is truth anyway?
Truth and Freedom
Jesus says, He is truth. He also says when we find truth, we will be set free. Free from…what imprisons us. So, do I live in prisons of my own making; have others imprisoned me or has life and its hardships created prisons that I have accepted as a place to reside? What keeps us from living our lives to the fullest?
Jesus said that he came to bring us the fullness of life. That sounds very appealing. Who wouldn’t want that? If I can find truth, I will be free, and if I am free, I will live fully. Sounds simple enough. I want to live fully and not just on days that I feel good or when things are going my way – that’s not living fully, that’s living according to circumstances. I ponder whether I have experienced living fully. Have I tasted a sample of this and not noticed? Is it within my reach?
Confronting the Thief
Jesus came so that we would live fully and abundantly, however, He warns us that there is a thief, who wishes to prevent that.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”
-John 10:10
Even in desiring and pursuing an abundant life, I must recognize there is a thief who will use any hurt, wound, internal weakness, disposition to sin, any hardness of heart, anything he can, to prevent me from living abundantly. When there is damage to our heart, created by the world or by our own doing, the thief presents us a nice package of lies. We believe and freedom becomes unreachable.
Some lies are so deeply hidden within, covered beneath many layers of debris and the residue of life. Lies can be so entrenched that we believe them to be truth. They are all too familiar and therefore difficult to identify. Skewed truth does not bring freedom.
Uncovering the Lies
The lies we embrace can only be countered by truth. We have been given a gift to help us walk in truth.
“This is the Spirit of truth… you know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you…he will guide you into all truth.”
-John 14:17, 16:12
Truth is an encounter with the Holy Spirit, an encounter with oneself. It is a progression and an overflow of a growing and deepening relationship with the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit of Truth will guide me into all truth, then I must be willing to be lead on this journey, deep into my heart, deep into His heart, into places of discovery, not just the truth about who He is, but the truth about who I am.
Pilate did not recognize Truth because he had never spent time with Jesus. Jesus meant nothing to Pilate, really. As scripture relates, Pilate washed his hands of the encounter. If I want truth to set me free so I can live the promise of abundant life, Jesus must be my desire above all else. He must be the foundation upon which all truth is built. The daily journey with Jesus continues, seeking His truth, uncovering the lies I have made mine, accepting His freedom and moving towards the promise of abundance.
“I have come so that they might have life, and have it to the full”
– Jesus
