The truth isn’t always what we want it to be. Sometimes beliefs that don’t match up with truth are much more convenient, or more palatable, or more popular. It takes work to conform your beliefs to reality. It requires examining what you’ve always believed and evaluating other beliefs charitably, without fear. It requires a willingness to submit to the truth when you find it, at whatever cost to yourself.
As followers of Christ, we know we have nothing to fear from the truth because the closer we get to knowing truth—even when the changes are painful to us—the better we know God, the foundation of everything. We care about the truth because we care about God. Here’s how John Piper put it:
[O]ur concern with truth is an inevitable expression of our concern with God. If God exists, then he is the measure of all things, and what he thinks about all things is the measure of what we should think. Not to care about truth is not to care about God. To love God passionately is to love truth passionately. Being God-centered in life means being truth-driven in ministry. What is not true is not of God. What is false is anti-God. Indifference to the truth is indifference to the mind of God. Pretense is rebellion against reality, and what makes reality reality is God. Our concern with truth is simply an echo of our concern with God.
Thankfully, God did not leave us on our own to discover truth. He revealed truth to us; we have a standard by which to measure all ideas and doctrines—the Bible. Your growth in sound knowledge and wisdom depends on your relationship to that revealed truth. Are you putting the full weight of your trust in it? Are you devoting significant time to it?
Where you end up depends on where you start. This year, if you’re a follower of Christ, if you love the truth, start with the Bible.