"What is truth?” Ah, the proverbial question. We could describe truth as a fact. As such it is sort of non-personal. But when it comes to the big questions of life, the human heart usually wants more than the facts. “Just give me the facts!” may be good enough for the old television detective, but is not usually adequate for a troubled soul.
The truth one looks for in times of need is more related to solutions than facts. The question in hearts is more a pursuit of some dependable insight that can be counted on to produce change. After all, at times like this a pursuit of truth is usually based in some understanding of life gone badly and our need is for very practical, dependable answers.
It is good to remember that we are surrounded by dependable truth! The sun will rise tomorrow and gravity will still be working. We are all experiencing winter turning into spring as we read this. Truth marches on. But are there equally dependable truths that affect relationships, and the less scientific parts of life? Emphatically YES!
The Creator did not set up natural physical laws alone. He set up interpersonal laws and spiritual laws. There are clear rules that we depend on without thinking to keep us alive in the natural world, such as the friction that makes your car brakes work. There are also rules that must be followed in the relational world and the spiritual world. You cannot just do as you please and expect everything to turn out right. There are dependable solutions to the difficulties you are facing.
But truth alone is insufficient. We need faith and hope, too. In the Christian world it seems like faith gets top billing between these two. I am not sure that is accurate. What the desperate heart needs is faith that there are principles that can be brought into play that will change the current outcome of life’s risks into something better. That is HOPE!
Knowing that there is dependable truth out there is a must. Then having the faith that if those truths are applied they will work is the beginning of something new within the heart itself. When that newness springs into full life it is called HOPE.
The heart broken by a deteriorating relationship needs hope. It needs to believe that there is a better future. It does not really care about gravity and friction unless it knows that those facts can make a palpable difference in the misery it feels now. That heart needs to know that there is hope that life can be better, that pain can be replaced, that the broken relationship can improve, that the emptiness inside can be filled. That is the very definition of hope.
To all the uncertain, hurting hearts out there – there is hope that when you take the risk of applying the right truths to your relationships things can be better.
Principle Based Evaluation: Hope is the product of clear thinking and good choices to pursue truth that works. Where are you going to look to find truth that works?
For more information on the author, Gary Cake, go to: http://www.mtwm.org/
