‘live your truth’
Jeremiah 17:7-9
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
Objective truth– When its truth conditions are met without bias caused by a sentient (able to perceive or feel things) without subject.
Subjective truth– A truth based off a person’s perspective, feelings, or opinions.
We live in a “trust your heart”, “live/speak your truth” & “do what makes you feel good” culture, but the Bible is very far from that. The bible says that our heart is deceitful above all else (Jeremiah 17:9), that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) and our feelings (passions of the flesh) ultimately will lead to destruction (1 Peter 2:11-12, Galatians 5:24). So now what? In this blog post, I want to kind of debunk all of these sayings, explain why they are faulty, and show you what Jesus says. I want to say first, that if there are things that I write that you don’t agree with or want to talk about more, I am very open! I love having these conversations and engaging with people about this topic. Let’s just keep it loving though, please.
“Live your truth”…. A good friend of mine said it best, “If anything can be my truth, is anything actually really true?” (Shout out to Anna Lea). Again, subjective truth is a truth based off a person’s perspective, feelings, or opinions. A subjective truth can not be reality. If I told you that I believe the sun is cold, you would look at me like I’m crazy. How I perceive something or how I feel, does not make something true. So if everyone should live by their truth, when is anyone ever considered wrong? If someone’s truth is solely based on how they feel then no one should ever be able to say what they are doing is right or wrong. At first, I know there are people like “For sure! Exactly. People should be able to live a life they want to live and no one should be able to tell them otherwise.” But, what if someone’s truth is immoral? What if their “truth” is pedophilia? Are we then still saying, “Live your truth”? Where is the line of someone being able and not being able to live their truth? Often, I hear “well if their truth is immoral then it can’t be truth” or “well if it’s illegal, clearly it can’t be truth!”, but now we are kind of changing what we say we believe from person to person.
There was a point where slavery wasn’t an immoral act for A LOT of people… so was it okay then because it was accepted? Definitely not. Slavery was wrong and is wrong, no matter if people BELIEVE that it is right.
As a believer in Jesus, I believe that God created everything. You, me, and this unexplainable, perfect-conditioned world that we live in. I also believe that we bear the image of a Perfect and Holy God (Genesis 1:27) and that we can sense when things are moral and when they are immoral. But, if we can’t or don’t sense those things, God gave us scripture so that we can know what is right and wrong, what is pleasing to Him, how we should live and love another; but most importantly how to love Him. Preston Perry, an apologist & poet once said (& I paraphrase) that we want to be treated like we are the image of God, but we want to deny Him completely. Now this isn’t me saying that believers should treat unbelievers in a way that does not reflect the way God loves us. I’m not saying that anyone, no matter their beliefs, should be treated less than. But, I do believe Preston is right.
Jeremiah 17:9 says The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. If God is the only one who can understand our heart, don’t you think that he knows what our heart really needs? Proverb 28:26 says He who trusts in his own heart is a fool… You maybe think that you know what’s best for you, but the Creator only truly knows what is best. Can you think of a time where your heart told you to love and go back to someone who consistently hurt you? I think we’ve all been there to some extent, and that is just a minor example of our heart and desires leading us in the opposite direction that we should go in. I for sure have stayed in situations or relationships where I easily let my feelings outweigh truth. It sucks.
Our flesh and society will tell us to do what is pleasing, indulge in whatever makes you feel good, and live for today… but everything that we do has eternal purpose. We all often say “Life is short”, which is true. The Bible says that we are like a vapor in the air that is here today and then vanishes. So what are we doing to invest in eternity? Everything we do has eternal purposes. Ravi Zacharias says it best, “Truth by definition can not include everything. If it includes everything then there is no such thing as falsehood, and if there is no such thing as falsehood, there is no such thing as truth.” If Jesus says He is the way, the truth, and the life… We know He lived… we know He died… & we know we can’t find His body ANYWHERE (not a conspiracy theory by the way… He died for our sins & defeated death. THE TOMB IS EMPTY)
Investigate what He says life really is all about. What TRUTH really is. Investigate Jesus and seek Him with right intentions and a pure heart. Deuteronomy 4:29 tells us that if we seek the Lord, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Currently we are in a time where we clearly see, daily, that live your truth can’t work. We yell to live your truth, but then also yell BELIEVE WHAT I BELIEVE. Vote for this person, sign this, do this, but in reality if you’re saying “live your truth”, you’re contradicting everything you say you believe. Now, I’m not saying educating people on different things are wrong at ALL. But, I do think that if you’re telling one to live their truth, you can’t get upset when they do… right?
So if everything can not be true, shouldn’t we investigate what is true and what holds value for eternity? Invest in truth.
