Absolute Truth

For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.~ Romans 3:3-4

What does God say regarding the truth of his promise?  "I am not a man that I should lie,  or a son of man that I should change my mind".

I have said it before; we Christians,  particularly evangelicals, often regard ourselves as guardians of truth. That we hold truth,  but the deeper truth is that the truth holds us.

In Paul's description of the armour of God (a useful metaphor for the principles that keep you protected in a spiritual battle) he refers to truth as a 'belt'. In the case of the typical armour of a Roman guard,  who Paul was likely observing as he wrote from his imprisonment, a belt was the piece of kit that held the whole ensemble together.

Truth is the foundation.  It is the undergirding and underpinning principle that we stand on.

In the psalms we are told that righteousness and truth are the foundations of his throne.

In an age where truth is often seen as subjective this concept grates,  culturally. People say,  I have found 'my truth'. Or I'm glad that is true for you!'

And let's be real about it. Part of the reason I place my faith in Jesus is because of subjective truth. If it wasn't 'true for me', I probably wouldn't believe it.

But I believe that my subjective truth has been drawn into confluence with his objective truth. We flow together,  and as long as we do, our truth is truth.

So as a Christian,  when my 'truth' starts to depart from his,  I instinctively know it must be re-examined.

The only area we find in our culture where absolute truth seems to be adhered to is where it is convenient for the adherent.

So 'science' gets wielded about by people who laud it's as absolute truth as long as it justufies their position,  particularly in relation to God.

But they forget, often,  that science itself is based on scepticism and unbelief.  That everything is subject to disproval by new discovery. Nothing is sacred.  Nothing is beyond question.

But here is the thing.

My belief in something does not affect its existence one iota.

It is or it isn't.

I may say that the phone on which I write this is in fact a cabbage. But it would not cease to be a phone.

Does a rose by any other name not smell as sweet? It's is still a rose. Call it what you will.

You don't believe in God? Okay. But your unbelief won't save you if you're wrong.

But I love what this text says.

For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 

Unbelief is another way of saying faithlessness. But what the text says is that your lack of faith does not affect his faithfulness. 

He is still faithful to you.

You don't believe in God,  but he believes in you.

He has not stopped caring for you, providing for you, or loving you. Not for a second.

As we saw earlier,  his patience with you, his kindness to you,  is that you would turn to him.
And he remains faithful. 

And for as long as this window we call 'life' is open, there is time to reconcile 'your truth' to his truth, to have confluence,  to flow together with God,  your father.

He is true to himself. He cannot lie. This truth can hold you back,  or it can hold you close.

The hardest thing to believe, in the end,  is what we all desperately want to believe.

Yes, you are valued,
Yes, you have purpose,
Yes, you are loved.
Yes, their is forgiveness.
Yes, there is hope.
This storm will pass,
And the anchor will not sway,
The foundations will not falter,
The truth will not fail,

Not today,
Not ever,

Amen.