TRUTH - IS IT IMPORTANT?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Every sensible person would have to say yes! We can all be seriously hurt by dishonesty and false information. Pilate had a problem with the “truth” before he allowed the Jews to Crucify Jesus.

(John 18:37 NIV) “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” {38} “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.”

The evening news would only last about five minutes if they left out all the stories about honest people being swindled, cheated, and robbed by crooks and corrupt corporations. Leave out the scandals, the daily report on murder, sex, perversion and corruption in our government and we could just skip the whole thing.

Would you believe Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad if he said there was no poverty or hunger in Africa? If he said he took this photo to prove it would you believe him?

(Photoshop can create any kind of picture.)

Normal people have someone talking to them every waking moment of their lives. This talk can be very upsetting, painful, creates depression, worry, anxiety and sleepless nights. Most of this talk is wickedly and painfully false. It can even cause bad dreams. Some of it is inspiring, and makes us feel great.

Where is this witches brew of pain and joy coming from? It comes from our marvelous and amazing brain. Just try to sit for five minutes and have no thoughts at all. Unless you are seriously ill and in a coma it can't be done.

With practice we can learn to reject and correct the false and disturbing thoughts that can make us miserable. These can be generated by the prefrontal lobes of the brain. The left side creates happy and cheerful emotions and the right side does the opposite.

The Bible makes it clear that "as a man thinketh - so is he." There's an interesting passage in (Phil 4:6-7 NIV) "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. {7} And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. {9} Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

Sometimes we need to silence that voice in our head that is giving us all kinds of false ideas and bad advise. If we recorded everything we say in a day and then heard someone repeat it back to us - we would discover that we have been saying a lot of false things. The false things we say can make us miserable.

As a Christian Counselor for many years I've heard things like: "I can't control my temper." That's false. Everyone can do that in certain circumstances. Example: A man who slaps his wife and children around is pulled over by a Police Officer. He's really steamed about being stopped.

The officer walks to the door of his car and the man is meek, submissive and controls his temper remarkably well. The police officer is 6'4 inches tall, 275 pounds, not an ounce of fat, has a gun, billy club on his belt, handcuffs and could easily ruin our angry friend's life. So much for being unable to control his temper.

It interesting how well that voice in our heads can come up with all kinds of deception. Someone has a decent car but starts saying: "I NEED A NEW CAR." The truth is they "want" a new car but it's a clever false argument to say "I need a new (you fill in the blanks).

How many of these false statements in your head can you think of? Get rid of them. Here's a true or false test: "Is it ever God's will for you to set aside the needs of other to take care of yourself?" The correct answer is yes!

(Mark 6:30-32 NIV "The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. {31} Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." {32} So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place."

Godly motives say, "You are important and so am I. Jesus loves us -- and he loves us equally."