Tormented: Eight Years and Back

Excerpt from Tormented: Eight Years and Back

Truth verses Reality

Honesty and truth are often considered to be synonymous terms, but they need to be separated. There are three levels of clarity: (1) lying, (which we have discussed previously) (2) reality, and then (3) truth. Some people will move out of lying into reality and they think they have arrived. Reality has its place. It is definitely a big step above deception. In Luke 15:17 when the prodigal son came to his senses, he came into reality. He saw how foolish he had been and what a mess he had made of his life—I wish I had what the pigs have (verse 16). For him, that reality was definitely a positive step on the road home, but reality can at other times be very harsh and very negative. For example, when Amnon awoke to the reality of what he had done to his half sister, Tamar, in 2 Samuel 13, he hated her and locked her out of the house. That reality brought hurt, not freedom. Truth brings freedom; reality often leaves you without answers.

The Biblical definition of truth is not "reality." Many people confuse reality with truth because reality is a step closer to truth than lying, but it is still not truth. Reality is, however, the doorway that can lead into truth. But if we stop at the reality stage, it has no redemptive power. There are a great many cynical, powerless people who live in reality. Reality may say, "I don’t love my spouse anymore, therefore, I want a divorce." This particular statement may be loaded with reality, but is totally devoid of truth. Many people have come to the reality that they have been used and abused, but that reality, instead of blessing their lives, has often done nothing more than bring bitterness to a heart. A person can be brutally honest and still be without truth and subsequent victory.

…If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8: 31-32

The truth making us free is only a fragmented concept unless we read verse 31, which defines what truth is. It is not someone’s opinion. It is not the reality of your circumstances. A person will become only as free as the amount of God’s Word that he has in his life.

Exactly what is the difference between truth and reality? A person can admit that he is in fear and that may be a reality, but it’s not truth. However, the day that person says, "God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind"—that is truth. A person can admit that he is sick and that may be a reality, but that is not truth. But the day that person says with faith, "By the stripes of Jesus I am healed"—that is truth. So many times what we are calling truth is just reality, and reality has no power in and of itself.

You may have been lying to yourself that everything in your life is fine, and then something happens that gives you a moment of clarity and you admit, "There are some things wrong in my life and I am about to make some of the biggest mistakes of my life. I am ready to throw it all away and there is nothing in me that really cares." That may be reality and you may think that realization and that admission is truth, but that is not truth. Truth comes the day that you look yourself in the mirror and say with faith, "Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!"

Most of the time we teach reality as being truth, but reality is based on this natural world. Truth goes beyond the limits of this physical universe. The psalmist said, "Thy Word, Oh Lord, is truth." Jesus Himself is truth, and it is only in the power of His absolute truth that we are set free. Joel 3: 10 reads, "Let the weak say, I am a mighty man." Spiritual maturity comes when we move out of reality into truth.

Facing what the world calls facts—or facing reality—is nothing compared to the power we come into, and the deliverance we receive, when we love truth and speak truth into our life.

© 2006, Peggy Joyce Ruth
http://www.peggyjoyceruth.org