The truth is important to God. And because it is important to God, it should be important to us. When we talk about the truth, what are we talking about? We are talking about the truths of God and not the facts of man.
Now, here is an example of what I mean. I know a man who was tricked and betrayed. When the problem was uncovered, he wanted to know all the details of the situation. He searched and talked and
acted like an amateur detective for several months. He just had to know all of the details of his past problem.
When he was asked why he had to find out all the ugly details, he responded by using a Scripture verse. He said, "I can't forgive until I find out all the facts. I have to know the truth. After all, Jesus said 'you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.'"
It was good that he knew the Bible, but he didn't know the Word. Let's look at what Jesus really said.
In John 8:31-32, Jesus said, "If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free."
Now you can see that this man
quoted the Word, but he didn't quote the complete Word. Sometimes that can be very convenient.
Jesus said that IF we would abide in His Word, in other words continue in His Word, THEN we would be His disciples and THEN we would know the truth, and THEN we would be made free.
We must take things in context and we must take them in order. First, we must abide in His Word. We must daily read and meditate on God's Word, the Holy Bible. We must read and let the Word come alive within us. It can't be just another book. We must read it and believe that every Word is true. We
must read it knowing that it is the inspired Word of God and that it was penned only after the Words came from His lips.