That's not the God you believe in?

Common sense tells us that truth applies to everyone. As humans, we have little to no control over reality. Obviously, personal truths differ. "I was born in 1965" does not apply to everyone. But even then, a personal truth still applies to everyone in another sense. A person born in 1965 was still born in 1965, even if you were not.

So truth is objective. You can pick and choose what to believe, you can't pick and choose whether you're right to believe it. And this is an essential truth without which society could not function. Imagine if every teacher, instead of teaching their class, proceeded to say "but that's just my opinion. What's yours?" Well, little Timmy believes the Earth is flat, little Tommy believes broccoli is the devil's vegetable, little Jimmy believes everyone should receive toys for free, and little Johnny believes it should be a capital offence to set math homework.

The existence of truth is not only essential to society, but ultimately is unavoidable. Nature has the best law enforcement. If a person jumps off a bridge, it doesn't take a police officer to make gravity work. But my brethren, we live in a world where we're told you can "live your truth". Well ok, here's my truth: The way of a fool seems right to him, but the wise receive counsel.

The problem with living "your" truth is that the truth is not yours. Truth does not belong to you, you belong to Him. The only thing you can change about Truth (and I am, of course, referring to God here) is the way He will deal with you when you meet. As much as people may wish God did not exist, He will always exist. He existed before you, He will exist after you. Of course, as Christians, we don't need to be told that.

But here's the scary part. In a way, we do. See, we all have a twisted view of God. That's just human nature. Even the most dedicated student of the Bible can't just absorb it all, memorise every word by heart, and apply it perfectly to their lives. But whereas twisting God in our minds is inevitable, it is sometimes deliberate. Tell me, how is "that's not the God I believe in" any better than "that's not my truth"? Of course, that does depend on why it's not the God you believe in. If it's not the God you believe in because it's not the God described in the Bible, that's one thing. Allah isn't the God I believe in. But how many of us try to read our views into the Bible rather than trying to let the Bible inform our views?

We all have biases. There are things we want to believe about God regardless of whether or not those things are true. But my brethren, we should be willing to discard those at the drop of a hat. If you're ever reading your Bible and come across something you don't especially want to find, that's too bad. If you disagree with God, God will disagree with your disagreement. And trust me, my brethren, He'll win that fight 10 times out of 10.

So don't be a fool, whose way is right in his own eyes. Instead, listen to wise counsel, whether that comes from the word of God Himself, or the word of His people.