truth telling

Truth. Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth"?

Jesus said in another context, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Only Jesus holds the complete truth. Only Jesus is the complete truth.

To be candid with you, in dealing with architects, lawyers, bankers, construction companies, real estate corporations (as we are walking through the relocation process), my head sometimes begins to spin.

Truth many times can become a "perceived reality." In other words, "what I perceive is truth to me, becomes the truth."

Situations can become so confused that the truth can be like finding a "needle in a haystack." The phrase I keep hearing from some we are dealing with is, "just tell people what they want to here."

Wow. I'm not very good at that. I like to tell the truth. I like people who tell the truth.

FOX had a show called, "Moment of Truth," a TV show that wrestles with whether or not anyone is ever willing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Contestants are hooked up to a state-of-the-art lie detector test in order to determine whether or not they are spinning lies while asked a series of questions.

If contestants tell the truth, they'll win $500,000. To add a little drama, the show mixes spouses, significant others, family members, friends, and co-workers into the audience.

Here are a few of the questions that have been asked in recent episodes:

Have you ever lied to get a job?


Do you like your mother-in-law?


Have you ever stolen anything from work?


Would you cheat on your spouse if you knew you could get away with it?

As one person on the show noted: "This is the first game show where you already know all the answers!"

But despite their foreknowledge, contestants find the game difficult. This is the genius of the show—FOX executives know that humans are depraved and lack integrity.

We all have secrets we don't want to tell anyone.

What if you had to answer these kinds of questions while your spouse, family members, friends, bosses, and co-workers watched and listened?

What if you had to answer these kinds of questions in front of the church?

For some, it would be terrifying.

But nonetheless, honesty matters—it matters for the sake of the community of our families and friends, the community of faith, and the community at large.

Honesty matters for each of us personally. It's a matter of life or death. After all, every moment is a "Moment of Truth" before God—and he knows everything.