DAY TWENTY-TWO -- Jesus the Truth

"What is truth?" Pilate jabbed at Jesus in the final moments before turning him over to His executioners. Then as if regretting having asked, the procurator of Judea walked out and washed his hands, absolving himself forever of his failure to find the answer.

What is truth? Leo Tolstoy, Russia's premiere writer of the 19^th century, found himself tormented by this question during what should have been his happiest years. Having produced two literary masterpieces, he was highly regarded for his intellect by all strata of society. He loved his wife, adored his children, and enjoyed great wealth. Yet, looking across the landscape of his life, he saw only a series of incoherent and pointless images. Though the world and its treasures were at his fingertips, suicidal depression consumed him.

The truth is that life is meaningless, Tolstoy finally concluded. In his autobiography written much later, he details how he came to this place of quiet despair even at the height of worldly success. It began with bursts of bewilderment in his moments of solitude. The questions why and what next baffled him, tormenting his mind with a demand for answers. Slowly these spurts of painful analysis grew, melding together until he was incapable of a moment’s peace. The misery of meaninglessness haunted him at every point.

From there the literary genius entered a season of terror. Fearing He might take his own life, he removed a rope from his room at night and gave up his gun when traveling. He writes that he was as a man lost in the forest who was terrified by the fact that he was lost... Oddly enough, this desperation kept Tolstoy alive. He was baffled by his need for answers and began to believe that his very compulsion to ask why was evidence that an answer existed, for if life held no meaning, then surely he would not care so very much.

When Jesus claimed to be the Truth, He answered the why and what next of every person. In this simple declaration, He reminds us that because we are created in the image of God, the knowledge that something transcends us is written on the fabric of our souls. To be human is to have an awareness, a sense of otherness churning within, forcing us to ask the questions that can lead us to back to our Creator to find the real meaning of our lives.

Of course sin-sick people forever engage in pointless pursuits that deny this reality. Instead of seeking the One for whom we were created, we construct elaborate schemes to justify our rejection of God. Perhaps like Pilate, to accept the reality of His existence would demand a response we can't afford to give. Thus, we suppress the truth, ascribing meaning to such minutiae as the houses we live in or the lovers we embrace, the children we bear or the successes we achieve. All the while the flicker of hope in our hollowed-out hearts slowly extinguishes. To this universally desolate condition Jesus proclaimed, I am the Truth, tenderly extending a way out of the forest of emptiness and back to the Father Himself.

Tolstoy wrote of the epiphany that saved his life in the midst of his darkest days. Reassessing the Christian faith of his childhood, he told of how he realized that if he had not lived with a vague hope of finding God, he would have killed himself long before. Thus, he decided, the meaning of life must be rooted in the existence of God. He writes, ‘What, then, do I seek?’ a voice cried out within me. ‘He is there, the one without whom there could be no life.’

Yes, He is there -- in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Jesus is the spiritual center, the source of everything real. Without Him, all we might cling to is a lie, every purpose we embrace only vanity. And when He comes to us as Truth, Jesus offers no less than the unfolding of Himself and a chance to participate in His eternal plan, to at last pursue the purpose for which we were born. When we grasp this and fall at His feet in worship, surrendering our life into His hands, we will know that the Truth has come and set us free.

{Leo Tolstoy's autobiography, Confession is published on the Internet by various sources, also in print by Penguin and W.W. Norton publishers. All quotes have been taken from this.]

Respond

There is one objective reality that lies at the base of all existence -- the living God who has always been and always will be. Jesus as the Truth is the manifestation of that reality to us. Consider your personal awareness of a transcendent God. When did you first sense it? What questions led you to Jesus, the Truth?

Within the heart of every person is the knowledge of the objective reality, called God, for He has put it there. We spend our life suppressing this reality believing this world offers more pleasure than the God who made us. Does your daily purpose for living find focus in Jesus, the Truth? How does your life demonstrate that He is the center of your existence, the delight of your days?

A Prayer