The problem with the truth is that it's relative.

Well, no it’s not. Let me rephrase. People think truth is relative. Truth—by definition—cannot be relative. According to Merriam-Webster, truth has several definitions, but all of them include some form of the principle that truth is a form of a fact or reality. It’s indisputable. For example, it’s true that the sky is blue. Unless, of course, it’s raining or snowing or the end of the world. Or at night. But you get the idea. Unless you’re color blind, you wouldn’t argue that the sky is generally speaking, some shade of blue.

Now, here’s the problem. What if someone told you “Sure, the sky is blue for you. But for me, it’s actually green.” Okay, yes, that sounds ridiculous. But that’s what our culture is doing. We have taken truth and turned it into opinion, into perception. Our culture says that you can believe whatever you want to believe about yourself, religion, the world around you, and no one can argue because that’s your “truth.” But why? Why have we chosen to turn reality into personal interpretation?

The quick answer is because reality is often not what we want it to be. Life sucks. It’s unfair. Bad things happen to “good” people. Yet, feeling something, believing in it as strongly as you can, has never and will never change reality.

And what happens when two people have opposing “truths”? Does that make one of them wrong? Because by the definition of truth, they can’t both be right. Two mutually exclusive beliefs like “the sky is blue” and “the sky is green” can’t both be true. So what happens? Do you argue, bicker, debate over which is more “true” than the other? Do you just move on, knowing that you both can’t be right, but ignoring the issue? Probably.

The problem with the truth is that it is offensive.

Our culture is a curious mix of apathy and passion. We care about rights, fairness, justice—but not about truth. Hmm. Does that not seem odd to anyone else? Truth says that there is a right and wrong answer—which means that someone’s opinion and personal reality can be denied. So, truth has gotten pushed to the side so that feelings don’t get hurt.

But without truth, how can their be trust, understanding? We are a culture that loves to argue and to share strongly worded opinions—but being offended? Someone disagreeing and coming back with an argument of his or her own? Oh, dear Lord, no. That’s a huge no-no.

We need to stop being afraid of offending people and start being afraid of ignoring reality.

The problem with the truth is it no longer exists.

In a world where reality is up to personal interpretation, how can truth survive? Perhaps it’s not so much that truth no longer exists, but that people choose to ignore it. It has become clouded by the ideology that perception and opinion are just as much reality as concrete facts. What is real and what is believed to be real are not necessarily the same thing. Now, it is culturally acceptable to identify as either gender (or both), as any race, even as any species. If you wake up one day and decide you want to be a cat, no one can argue that you’re not. Denying someone else’s reality has become the ultimate sin. That’s not truth.

Truth is that we are broken, fallen, messed up people with a Savior who loves each of us. He cares for you and me and everyone around us—including our enemies, including the people we hate. Just because you feel something doesn’t make it true. It never has and it never will. Life sucks. It’s unfair. Bad things happen to “good” people. But here’s the catch—no one is inherently good. I am incredibly grateful we don’t live in a “fair” world, because fair says I should have to pay the price for my sins. No, life’s not fair because we have a Savior who paid the price so we don’t have to.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

That’s my truth. I have been redeemed by grace. Sin exists and it sucks and life’s hard, but I’m holding on to the truth that there’s something better than this reality. My truth is that there is truth, the ultimate truth of a God who loves and saves.