“Love…does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.” 1 Corinthians 13:6

When does truth cease being truth? I believe it is the moment that anything other than fact is injected into it. Truth is strong and robust, it is universal and un-ignorable, it is transcendent and applicable, and it is complete and self-sustaining.

When shaded, mixed, or paired with hearsay, opinion, suspicion, and personal agenda, or filtered through finite limitations (like an eyewitness) it is wounded, often mortally. (This is why the doctrine of verbal and plenary inspiration of the Bible is a crucial revelation from God, and also why political races get confusing.) The fact that intact truth must be respected forces people to take one of two options: they must either yield to it (e.g., gravity), or find some way to pollute it, and so appear to defeat it. God’s truth is the foundation of morality.

The quality of being true is first, and foremost, factual. It relates to such highly-prized qualities as accuracy, integrity, dependability, authenticity, loyalty; being trusty, sure, steady, and honest. Our language and culture employs the thought in many picturesque ways such as true-north, true-blue, true-to-form, true-to-life, dream-come-true, true-flavoring, and true-love. When at a lumberyard, we pick up a board and peer down the length to see if it is out-of-true, and hence, devalued and unusable.

John 1:14 states, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” God is true (John 7:18, 28; 17:3). Jesus, the second person of the godhead, took on human flesh and made His home among men. The world was privileged to see through Him the glory of God, and it is no wonder that what was true of His core was true of all He did. He was through-and-through grace and truth. The grace of His great heart’s capacity is coupled with the truth of His great heart’s covenant (Philippians 1:6).

John 14:6 states, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me.’” This is the simple and profound truth of the Gospel purchased at the terrible cost to Jesus: upon His sacrifice we have proffered life, you may depend upon it and rejoice in it! This threading theme of truth proceeds from the nature of God, pervades all His doings, extends to the saint’s life, and is to direct all of the believer’s affairs.

1 John 3:18, 19 states, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” Being a lover of truth, keeper of the truth, and valiant for the truth is “exhibit one” of the redeemed life. Since God is truth, so the believer is to live truth; like Father, like son.

Our text states that love rejoices in truth. Love rejoices in truth unvarnished, therefore every healthy relationship, whether of family, society, body politic, or personal interaction with God will only thrive where truth is readily discernable, respected and cherished. When truth is damaged, love is strangled and the heart begins to vacate the relationship.

Truth is significant. Truth appears to be in short supply in our day. Thank God He is true. Ask God for the wisdom to understand revealed truth in Scripture, use it to change and direct your life, and learn how to recognize where truth is found in our world. Rejoice when you recognize truth and be sure it governs you in all your relationships. Speak truth with God and your neighbor. Trust and obey.