“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
–Jesus of Nazareth, God come in the flesh
recorded in John 14:6
In today’s postmodern world of relative truth, a strategy has emerged for dealing with uncomfortable ideas. People just simply choose not to believe something and feel confident that they have sufficiently invalidated the idea by doing so. They choose to deny whatever they don’t like or whatever makes them uncomfortable. If they view truth as relative (so nothing is absolute), they are able to let themselves off the hook when an idea has implications they don’t wish to face.
Strategies like peacocks—fancy, but they don’t fly
The grim fact is that denial is only a delusion.* It changes nothing. Absolutely nothing. If my house is on fire, no amount of denial will put the fire out and restore my burnt possessions.
*Delusion– (from the Apple Dictionary) an idiosyncratic belief or impression that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument.
Denial is often accompanied by a companion strategy that is equally delusional. Denial’s companion strategy is that of concocting one’s own “truth.” Simply create a belief system that appeals to your personal whims and live by it. However, no amount of dreaming will put money in the bank to cover my checks when my account is empty. No merchant will accept my concocted delusion as payment.
This is your world
The problem is that neither of these strategies acknowledges reality. Yet the world we live in embraces and promotes these strategies. Christian apologist Josh McDowell pointed out in 2011 that 91 percent of evangelical Christians said there is no absolute truth apart from themselves. In today’s world, both in our culture, and even in the Church at large, truth has been watered down, at the least, if not outrightly denied. This is the kind of world we must prepare our children to live in, to survive in.
Truly, we want them to do even more than just survive; we want them to thrive. We want them to shine the light of God’s truth in the darkness. We want them to be used by God to set others free from denial and delusion.
For twenty years, we have sought God’s wisdom to prepare our children to stand unashamed and to speak boldly and winsomely for His truth. While that may seem like a long time, it has literally flown, and our first daughter is now in her second week of college.
Now is the time
Parents, our time is truly limited. We can’t afford to think we’ll get to deep discussions with our children some other day. The time to model a hunger for God’s truth in His Word is now. By our daily example, we teach where we believe the answers to life’s questions lie.
We must warn our young people ahead of time of the kinds of strategies they will face in the battle over truth. We can’t afford to let them walk blindly into an ambush.
We must help them understand that Truth is unchanging and that the only place to find it is in God’s Word. We must talk together and wrestle with ideas, continually comparing them to God’s truth. We can’t afford to give our children less than a solid foundation.
This means war
There is a very real enemy of our souls, who prowls like a lion, seeking someone to devour, Peter tells us. (I Peter 5:8) This battle over truth is very real and it’s a battle for our children’s hearts and minds.
This battle over truth is no surprise to God, however. He inspired Peter to deliver a relevant warning long ago.
“But false teachers also arose among the people,
just as there will also be false teachers among you,
who will secretly introduce destructive heresies,
even denying the Master who bought them,
bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
And many will follow their sensuality,
and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
and in their greed the will exploit you with false words;
their judgement from long ago is not idle,
and their destruction is not asleep.”
II Peter 2:1-3
(excerpt from a letter from one of Jesus’ original followers)
Don’t give up
We don’t have to be afraid or dismayed when truth is denied. But neither can we assume that all will be well if we keep silent. Our job is to earnestly contend for the faith, starting right at home.
“Beloved, while I was making every effort
to write you about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity to write to you appealing
that you contend earnestly for the faith
which was once for all delivered to the saints.
Jude 1:3
Never be ashamed to hold fast to truth,
For no matter how hard denial tries to undo,
Unbelief will never make truth untrue!
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, except where otherwise specified.
Homeschooling with her husband, Scott, since 2001, Carol believes nothing is too difficult for God. She is a passionate encourager and loves using creative means–including writing music, singing, speaking, and blogging–to encourage others to trust God through all the adventures He calls them to. You can read more from her at her Unsmotherable Delight blog (udelight.blogspot.com), where you’ll find faith-filled original songs, favorite scriptures, family stories, and even a little film about adoption, all designed to inspire and lift your spirit. Her original ‘theme song’ titled Captain’s Anthem can be heard on Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/30769152.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, except where otherwise specified.