A Journey Into Truth
Gary Witherall poses with students while on an Operation Mobilization mission trip to the capital city of Juba, South Sudan.
In my life’s journey, I have wrestled to understand truth. There is a big world out there, filled with religions, philosophies, cultures, and languages. However, in the journey, I recognized truth, because truth found me.
Before all things, truth existed. There is only one truth—the Word of God. And by his Word, God created mankind in his own image (Psalm 33:6). In the garden, mankind recognized the voice of truth. Yet mankind listened to another voice asserting another truth. And so, mankind became perverted by listening to the serpent’s lie. The devil has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him (John 8:44). The result of this single decision is that all have wandered from the truth:
We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).
“And so, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9).
Christ always knew He would die for his creation; for he is “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Only the loving shepherd who searches and rescues us can save us from the mess we produced.
Therefore, we worship the truth, because His mighty name and Word are exalted over all things (Psalm 138.2-3). We worship the Word, because the Holy Spirit breathed life into us, and so we praise Him back with the breath He gave. The believer worships “in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
Truth is not something, but someone. There is no truth outside of Christ, and he desires to show us all truth. When the spirit of truth comes, “he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). As we pursue Christ, we are shown previously-hidden knowledge. The Lord alone is my Shepherd, and he leads me by his Word (Psalm 23).
Truth is not something; truth is someone. Christ is truth (John 14:6). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). God’s Word is always truth: “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). It is not possible to change His Word, because Christ never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Truth is absolute in that God’s Word is complete. However, truth is best understood as living—and more than a concept. Truth has a voice, and it can be recognized. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). It is living truth within us that we are being transformed into Christ’s likeness (1 John 3:2-3). “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
My wife, Helena, once asked her grandmother, “Why do you always read the Bible? It’s just the same.” Her grandmother answered, “Yes, but I am always changing.” God’s compassion for us is so great, that it is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). So, the discipleship journey toward Christ is one of continual unfolding—as we grow, we understand more. There was a time where I thought like a child (1 Corinthians 13:11), but that changed as I grew. If I do not understand something in God’s Word, it is I who must grow. God’s Word is unchangeable (Isaiah 40:8).
Someone might say, “If God is all things, then God must be untrue!” Not so, because God never lies (Titus 1:2), and it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). Untruth is not something, but the absence of truth. Likewise, evil is not something, but the absence of goodness. However, God is good all the time. Augustine taught that God allows evil to exist so that mankind might see His goodness and follow Him. Secondly, God’s supremacy far exceeds all evil. For the omnipotent God would not allow any evil in his works, unless his omnipotence and goodness, as the supreme good, is able to bring forth good out of evil. God is so much greater than the mess man created. He can take all the evil, and then turn it for good (Genesis 50:20).
Today, textual critiques scrutinize the Bible and question one passage or another, yet it is not the text that saves. Salvation belongs to God: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). No one actually finds salvation, but salvation finds us (Romans 3:11). If a person is seeking, it is because the Spirit was at work, opening a heart (John 6:44, John 6:63-65). So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
Some years ago, on a blustery day in the Jordanian desert, I was teaching the story of the good shepherd (John 10) to a Bedouin called Ahmed in his tent. Ahmed smiled and nodded; he knew immediately about the shepherd’s voice. He turned to me with confidence and said he knew each of his sheep by name. That was astonishing, because there were many sheep outside his tent. After the study, we walked out, and I watched him call his sheep by name, and they ran to him. He knew them because he watched them being born; he fed them, kept them safe, and led them to green pastures.
Jesus described sinful men like lost sheep—caught in the thicket, unable to get out the mess. Leaving the 99, he searches after the lost. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home (Luke 3:5-6). Augustine said, “Like a lost sheep I have wandered, but I hope to be brought home…on the shoulders of my shepherd.”
Truth found me—rescued me from the mess—and has brought me back on his shoulders to a life of goodness.
Gary is a full-time missionary for the Christian non-profit organization Operation Mobilization. He is one of the most passionate people for Jesus and the Gospel we have ever had the pleasure to encounter.
You will never be around him long before the conversation gets on point and you see who he loves. As a world traveler, he has followed his passion to make disciples in all nations and every corner of the world.
He has suffered and had many hardships, but they have forged him into a mighty warrior for Christ. We are blessed to be able to work with him.