“Do you trust what you hear?” In all honesty, there are times I really don’t know what to believe. I’m certainly not the only one. If you’re a young adult then you are significantly less likely to trust or to be known as a “low truster” (according to Pew Research). We’ve definitely seen that over the last few weeks as we face an unprecedented time of uncertainty. You can flip between two news outlets reporting on one story and find few similarities between the two. There have been reports that have been published only to be questioned for authenticity and accuracy. It’s all makes understanding what is real – really difficult. It seems to happen for a few reasons:
1. We’re inundated with information
You think this would be a good thing. The more information, the more we can clarify the facts, but with so much available information out there it’s easy to create a narrative beyond the basic facts. We can string together information, not knowing if they are connected, and completely skew the original data. There’s a little trick- if you want to make the truth disappear then you can try and bury it so no one finds it. Inundating people with information can overwhelm us and desensitize us to what is actually happening (whether intentional or not).
2. The abuse of information
This goes along with the previous point- some of the information is just not reliable. We have seen more in recent days people questioning police reports, or questioning leaders, questioning people’s accounts of certain things. There is not one person who isn’t guilty of this. When you come home and complain about a co-worker or a friend your story is not going to favor anyone but yourself. We share our perspective and our side of the story because it makes us look favorable. It’s hard not to be unbiased towards ourselves and unfortunately it does happen even among our leaders, law enforcement, and ourselves. How do we determine truth? Maybe it’s harder than we think?
3. Our sinful nature
This is what makes it scary- you can’t get away from it. There have been some who have discussed the idea of leaving the craziness behind and starting a new civilization on the moon or Mars to start over, but sorry to say they can’t leave their sinful nature behind. This is Satan’s key ally- our sinful selves that can look truth in the face and refuse to believe it. You and I are an unfortunate example of that.
Truth- For God so loved the World and this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay our lives down for our brothers. (John 3:16 & 1 John 3:16). Do we truly believe that? I think we say we would. Do we truly reflect that? I believe our world would look completely different if we did, but our failure plagues us. Our sinful nature keeps calling into question God’s goodness for us and truth. On top of that we are inundated with information that the world and devil uses to tell us otherwise. We can skew the facts and actually come to believe that God does not love us to the extent that he says, or that loving my neighbor might leave me out to dry.
Pop the bubble
The devil would rather have us stuck in our own little bubble with our worries/anxiety, or anger/frustration. He wants to keep God small to us. He does it by burying truth, or twisting it, or playing to our sinful nature, but here is a reality on which you can stand…
1 John 5:20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
What can you trust? It would seem a little off point just to say, “Trust God!” because everyone is saying, “Just trust me!” That’s why the Son of God comes to give understanding. He demonstrated the reality of sin in his death and then demonstrated his love for life and power over death in his rising. He pops our little reality bubble and makes us part of his bigger reality.
So when our world around us swirls with uncertainty here are realities that don’t change:
- Be sure that you are loved- you are a sinner but Jesus died for you
- God’s love for life and neighbor. The world is messed up, but Jesus died for the world too
- God is bigger than you think- discovering that in Scripture will lead us to reflect that to our neighbors in real life.
God’s Peace
Pastor Kehl