Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.     John 14:6 ESV

One of my favorite Jack Nicholson scenes in a movie was in a Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson stood up in the courtroom and yelled, “You can’t handle the truth!” So, what about you, can you handle the truth?

Sometimes the truth is hard to handle. It’s hard to handle when you find that the person you considered a friend has done something you would never have thought they would do. It’s hard to handle when someone betrays you. In all honesty, sometimes the truth is very hard to handle.

As Christians, however, we must live in truth. We know Jesus is the truth and in order for us to have eternal life, we must accept Him and His truth. In John 8:32 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

One of the hardest truths to handle is what Jesus told them in John 8:34 when He said, I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. We are told in Romans 3:23 that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. From this we can deduce that we are all slaves to sin.

What makes the truth even harder is when instead of trusting in His truth and being set free, we fall deeper into the bondage of sin. We cannot be set free from this bondage unless we surrender to Christ and accept Him and His truth.

Have you accepted the truth? There were many years in my life when I believed the lies. You know the ones I’m talking about. That lie that says, “Oh you’re okay. You’ll go to heaven because you’re a good person.” Or the one where the devil tells you God will overlook your sin. Or the one where you convince yourself it’s a little sin. You know all the lies the devil tries to get us to believe.

For many years I couldn’t handle the truth. I felt that Christianity might just be too hard for me. I thought I might have to give up too much. I might fail and then what? These are more lies the devil told me.

When you decide to accept Him and His truth, you don’t have to do it all alone. Psalm 25:5 says, “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”  Psalm 86:11 says, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; united my heart to fear your name. God will lead us and guide us and teach us in truth.

As God leads us, we grow and mature in our Christianity.  Ephesians 4:15 says, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” As we grow, we are to become more like Christ and imitate Him more and more.

The truth will not only set us free, but it will protect us. Truth is part of the armor God gives us to wear in our daily spiritual battles. In Ephesians 6:14 Paul tells us to stand with truth like a belt around your waist.

Truth is essential to the Christian. We don’t have to handle it on our own, He is there to help us. But we must speak the truth, we must live in truth.

As this world grows more and more evil, the truth is often hard to handle, but we don’t have to do it alone. Turn to Him today. The truth is we can’t get to heaven without Him. I can tell you there is nothing you will give up that is better than being in his love and truth. There is nothing more freeing that living a life with Christ.

He is the truth, and the truth will set you free. Trust in Him today.

Have a great day!