Uncovering Truth: How To Sort Facts From Falsehood
Chalis Butler
In the very beginning, the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God. They were together —face-to-face, in the very beginning. And through his creative inspiration this Living Expression made all things, for nothing has existence apart from him! Life came into being because of him, for his life is light for all humanity. John 1:1-4 TPT
Jesus existed before everything, and that means that Jesus is Eternal—He has always been, and he always will be. If we wanted to, we could call Him Eternal Jesus. Eternal Jesus created our beautiful world. He also created all of the humans. The humans are beautiful too, and within each created one, a special power is deposited.
Through all the ages this special power has been used for both good and evil. It has caused unimaginable pain. It is responsible for brokenness in our homes, our lives, our hearts, and our world. It enables a tragic amount of creativity, ingenuity, and calling, to go unrealized.
On the other hand, it places within our reach the potential for greatness, and empowers us to accomplish and produce and succeed. It leads us into adventure; it can be an instrument of reconciliation; a messenger of forgiveness, grace and peace.
It can dramatically change the trajectory of a life, for better or for worse.
It is the Power to Choose.
Choose Truth and Life
We choose simple things, like what to eat and what to wear. We also choose how to treat other people and how to treat our planet. We choose how to spend our time, what to believe, what to embrace, and what to reject. We choose whom and what to love.
We also choose who and what will have access to our minds and our hearts. And in fact, whatever fills up our senses and flows into our thoughts and our hearts, is being given permission (by our choosing) to lead us toward Truth and Life, or toward Delusion and Death.
Jesus… entered into the very world he created, yet the world was unaware. He came to the very people he created—to those who should have recognized him, but they did not receive him. John 1:10 TPT
It’s remarkable to me that the Divine Person who created us also gave us the freedom to reject Him. It makes sense though. “Forced love” is not love. I can’t make someone love me. Real love can only ever be given freely and must be received freely. It cannot be demanded or taken by force.
Jesus loves the people He made. Yet He does not demand our love in return, nor does He insist that we accept His love. We are free to choose. We can accept or reject Jesus, His message and His love.
Jesus’ Message and Love
Here are some of the claims of Jesus—this was His message to us:
I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. John 6:35 NKJV
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6 NKJV
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9 NKJV
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. John 10:11 NKJV
My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. John 10:27 NKJV
His love, He demonstrated when He allowed the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman authorities to crucify Him:
…I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. John 10:17,18 NKJV
Who’s Got the Truth?
Jesus—the One who created the world and then entered into that world and then died to save the people from eternal separation from God, and then rose from death to life again (this is a good article on Historical Evidence for the Resurrection) so He could carry on being Eternal Jesus and we could be eternal with Him—is the One who holds all Truth. There’s no one more In-The-Know than Eternal Jesus. The road that leads to Truth and Life begins by believing Jesus—believing His message and accepting His sacrificial act of love.
Jesus told His disciples this:
When He, the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth…John 16:13 NKJV
The Truth is discerned by our spirit; it is revealed to our spirit by God’s Holy Spirit. When we freely choose to accept the message and the love of Jesus, He gives us His promised Holy Spirit:
And because of him, when you who are not Jews heard the revelation of truth, you believed in the wonderful news of salvation. Now we have been stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13 TPT
So when we choose to believe Jesus’ message, and we choose to receive Jesus’ love, then we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, also called the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Truth (God’s Spirit) guides us into all Truth.
Lovers of Truth
The only way to even come close to being able to discern what is true and what is false as we are going through this life, is to become a Lover of Truth. Are we desperate to know the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth??? We choose whether or not we will love the Truth. And this one detail is hugely important. Here is why:
…those who are perishing…rejected the love of the truth that would lead them to being saved. Because of this, God sends them a powerful delusion that leads them to believe what is false. 2 Thessalonians 2:10,11
If we do not cling to the One who holds the Truth, we will be led to strong delusion. When we choose to reject Jesus, Who is our only hope for reconciliation to God—we, by our own choice, are rejecting God and His protection, His favor, His blessing, and the covering He offers us through the blood of His Son, Jesus. We are also rejecting, by choice, the counsel of His Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is not only the Spirit of Truth, but the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).
To willfully reject God’s covering is to to subject ourselves instead, to a very real Adversary (see Ephesians 6:12) who, according to 1 Peter 5:8 walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Jesus says in John 10:10, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. As He is challenging the Pharisees in John 8:44 he says to them, You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44 ESV)
Lovers of Truth love Jesus, who is Truth Incarnate. When we love Jesus, we will be given the Spirit of Truth, who will guide us into all Truth. And even then, we will not always get it right, because we will not always be listening—because most of us are not *always* tuned in or paying attention to His voice. BUT when we are, we be able to discern between what’s true and whats false, between fact and fiction, in our everyday life—in relationships, in situations, in current events, etc. We will be led to and drawn to sources—speakers and leaders, journalists, media, organizations, books, podcasts, resources, etc. that speak Truth. And when we hear things that are not true, or things that oppose the truth, we will recognize it as deception and falsehood.
In this way, our prayers remain aligned with God’s purposes and ways, we are not easily swayed, angered, or manipulated by what we are hearing and seeing, and our faith remains unshaken. We have the peace of God that passes all understanding, and we don’t need to be anxious for anything (Phil 4:6,7).
Let’s be Lovers of Truth! Let’s keep our ears open, our hearts soft and humble, and our spirits sensitive to the leading of God’s Spirit of Truth within us.
The Light of God has now come into the world, but the people loved darkness more than Light, because they want the darkness to conceal their evil. So the wicked hate the Light and try to hide from it, for the Light fully exposes their lives. But those who love the truth will come into the Light. John 3:19-21.
Chalis Butler
Website: www.Lovedweller.com
Contact: Info@thecovenantcenter.com
Chalis Butler writes from her favorite overstuffed chair in sunny, Central Florida. In the throws of parenting two toddlers, she and her husband vacillate between intentional living and survival mode. This is why her house can look immaculate or appalling on any given day. She has a rocky relationship with coffee. She wears graphic T’s and yoga shorts whenever possible. She loves finding awesome books for a dollar, watching her kids sleep, and pie crust.
Some other interesting tidbits: Chalis has spent time working with mission teams and teaching English in Haiti; she lived and worked in Australia for three years before returning home to the United States; she spent 16 years teaching music before switching gears to become a stay-at home mom and began working on her first book, “Return to Real: An intimate Look at One Woman’s Journey of Redemption,” which will be available February 2021. She and her husband Shane are licensed ministers with counseling endorsements through The Covenant Center; while also facilitating one of the worship teams.