Standing in the judgment hall of Roman-controlled Jerusalem, face to face with Jesus, the prophet of Galilee, the procurator Pontius Pilate asked what was to become one of the most famous questions of all time: “What is truth?” Pilate apparently failed to realize that the answer was standing right in front of him. The Bible tells us that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17), and Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Today we live in a world of relativism, where it would seem there are no absolutes. Relativism alleges that truth is subjective, elusive, changeable. Politicians utter promises they can’t or don’t intend to keep; spin doctors mislead; the world’s commerce is driven by greed at the expense of integrity; history is revised; news reports are frequently biased, sensationalized, or otherwise distorted; modern entertainment blurs the lines between reality and fantasy; the Bible is viewed as mythical, irrelevant, and inappropriate for today’s needs.
People may imagine what they will, disparage as they will, and try to make reality conform to their own desires and agendas, but that doesn’t change the truth. As Mohandas Gandhi put it, “God is, even though the whole world deny Him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.”
Those who close their minds to that reality unwittingly fulfill some of the saddest words in the Bible: “[Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:10–11). Even many sincere seekers of the truth look first in the wrong places. While they explore new forms of spirituality or take a psychological route toward self-improvement, for example, like Pilate they miss what is right in front of them: the liberating truth and love of God, which He freely extends to them.
But those who read the Bible with open minds and believing hearts will find what they’ve been searching for—answers to life’s deepest questions and love vast enough to fill the deepest void—the truth. “If you abide in My word,” Jesus promises, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31–32).