The Search for Truth, Freedom, and Safety

Last updated on: December 17, 2020 at 11:59 pm by Anna Pepperling

The Search for Truth, Freedom, and Safety 2020-12-17T23:59:14-07:00 Anna Pepperling

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Truth, it seems, is a precious commodity of bygone days. Turn on the news, in whatever form, and you’ll find that most sources twist the facts in an attempt to see their agenda come to fruition. On some platforms, where the people should be able to speak freely, truth gets censored for fear of nullifying the platform’s specific agenda. False claims and false results are the norm, and it’s up to the reader to sort everything out.

(By the way, can someone tell me who fact checks the fact checkers? Asking for a friend.)

When information is no longer unbiased and factual, where does one look for the truth of current events? Why must one constantly wade through a vast ocean of reports claiming to be true and do the hard work of deciding who is honest and simply willing to do their job without attempting to sway an entire nation (perhaps and entire world) toward one agenda or the other?

It’s maddening. Some days, I just want to cry out ….

Is there anyone who can tell me the simple facts of what’s going on?!

Instead, I find one “BOMBSHELL” report after another. Or a ridiculously overdone account of how one Democrat slammed a Republican when she said this or that.

So much drama when I just want the facts.

Yesterday, I was so fed up with trying to get to the bottom of current events, I finally tossed my phone across the couch and gave up. Minutes later, I was washing the dishes thinking, Well, don’t I still know the most important Truth?

In John 14, Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…” Earlier, in John 8, Jesus, in a conversation with His disciples, said that if they continue in His word, they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free.

Freedom is also highly sought after, but it is impossible to have freedom without truth. The Person and work of Christ offers both, and reminds us that one (truth) leads to another (freedom). So no matter what happens here on earth, we can rest knowing that as long as we know Christ in a personal way, we have the ultimate Truth. The most important, purest Truth that frees us in the present and gets us home safely in the future.

Safety is yet another desire. And while we can look to government to provide safety for us, we will find that in one way or another, elected (or not elected!) officials always come up short. The only way to be entirely safe is to put our faith and trust in Christ, knowing that nothing can pluck us from His hand. Yes, man can hurt and even destroy our bodies. But they cannot destroy our souls. The persecuted church of today knows this deeply. The martyrs throughout history knew this deeply. Some day, American Christians may also know it deeply, and I admit that is a terrifying prospect. But just as God gives us grace and strength to focus on Christ in these trying and uncertain times, He will also give us grace and strength to die for our faith, if ever called upon to do so. He will not give us that grace and strength today (assuming it is not our day to die). But on the day our strength fails – perhaps for His name’s sake – He will be there, giving us focus, hope, strength, and grace to be faithful and brave and true. Yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for He is with us. We call this “dying grace”, and it’s the same, sufficient grace He bestows on us every day to live for Him.

We are living in scary times. Fear, curiosity, and concern tempt us to fix our eyes on a television or other device. Every day, we’re deeply concerned. Every day, we’re frustrated with the lack of honesty. Every day, we’re bewildered by the plethora of pure dung coming through our social media feeds. We desperately want the truth, knowing that the truth will set us free from the tangled web we’ve woven in this country. But that truth may never come, at least not in its entirety. We can either let that sad fact plunge us into a pit of despair and frustration, but a better way is to allow it to drive us to Jesus – the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Rescue us, Jesus, from rampant dishonesty. Rescue us from those who intend to harm us. Rescue us from ourselves, and from the evil one. The world, the flesh, and the Devil are hard at work. Please be harder at work for us. Be our Truth, our Freedom, and our Safety. ~Amen.