Has there ever been a timelier word for us?! As Jesus prepares to be arrested, tried, and crucified, he prays for his disciples. There was turmoil in the culture, uncertainty in the hearts of the disciples, and a betrayer crouching at the door as Jesus makes ready his closest friends for the violence of the cross…and he gives them an anchor as he petitions the Father. This anchor will survive the turmoil, outlast the uncertainty, and expose the betrayer. What an exciting and confusing time it must have been for the disciples!!!!
Our intellect and/or need to complicate the simple wants this anchor to be a deep mystery that is somehow cryptic and understood only through deep study and years of contemplation. However, the anchor called truth was, is, and will continue to be the simplest reality that will confound the loftiest of our philosophy, the deepest of our wisdom, and the most veracious of our sciences. The truth is offered freely to all. The truth is easily accessible. The truth will form us. The truth will heal us. The truth will reconcile us. The truth is inarguable. The truth is unchanging. The truth will radically interrupt us. The Truth is our anchor. The truth is in fact the word of God…even more, the Truth is a person…indeed the Truth is Jesus (John 1:1;14). There is nary a more radical and ironclad statement for us to live by then, “your word is truth.” In our current culture with all the “musts” and all the spin on reality, we can believe fully that, as we cling to the truth, we will in fact be sanctified, made holy, set apart, cleansed, and continually changed into the likeness of Christ! Oh God may it be said of us, that in the turmoil of our culture, the uncertainty of our hearts, and the lurking of betrayal all around us, that we “…hold unswervingly to the hope we profess…spurring one other on toward love and good deeds…” (Hebrews 10:23-24) as we are sanctified by the truth!