"Buy" the Truth

The old saying “Truth is a rare commodity” seems truer today than ever before. Truth is always valuable and investing in this commodity is always wise—particularly as it becomes rarer.

Let’s face it: lies, deceits, falsehoods, misrepresentations, omissions, and so-called “spin” are rampant. If we have even a modicum of experience, we have grown rightly skeptical of all claims, no matter the source, whether in print, on television, or on the Internet. Nothing, it seems, can be trusted to be factual or accurate. Everything is suspect. The world is full of liars.

Like all human marketplaces, this “marketplace for truth” also contains half-truths, scams, and outright lies. We are all invited to “buy” from this dizzying array. But lies spoil rather quickly. Like a waxed piece of fruit, the outside looks nice, but it may be rotten underneath. Half-truths may last a little bit longer, but eventually reveal what is true and what is not. Only real truth survives.

Lies are at least as old as the Garden of Eden, where the serpent (Satan the Devil in disguise) lied to Eve when it told her that she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit. Alas, she bought the lie, and mankind has been eating that rotten fruit ever since. Adam and Eve together “bought” the idea that they could decide for themselves what is true and what is a lie. This is the essence of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan told Eve, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). In other words, Satan said, “YOU can decide what is right and wrong, what is ‘true’ and what is ‘false,’ for yourself. You don’t need God to tell you! Decide for yourself!” And he even accused GOD of being the liar one verse earlier, when he said “You will not surely die!” (v. 4)—a direct contradiction to God’s warning! (See Genesis 2:16–17.)

In this present age, a person does not need to be particularly astute to notice the partisan wrangling by leaders in many nations. Political parties present their own version of “the truth.” They strongly wrestle to convince the observer that one or the other is totally wrong and that the other must be totally right! But both may be wrong, and in totally wrong attitudes!

More than ever before, competing “truths” are presented nearly instantaneously—and even live on TV or the Internet. We no longer have the time (or take the time, often enough) to weigh what we see, hear, and read, and to “mull things over” or to critically analyze or test what is “fact.”

In this marketplace, the wisdom of old tells us, “Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding” (Proverbs 23:23). What wonderful advice! But the hard thing is, obviously, identifying the truth in this dizzying array of presentations of truth, half-truths, and outright lies!

There is, ultimately, only ONE source of absolute truth. That source is God. Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). That source can be verified. It can be tested and found to be rock solid. In fact, we are encouraged to “check it out”, as we are told, “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). It can be proven! The original King James Version even uses the word where it says: “prove” all things!

The word of God, the Bible, declares the truth. Jesus declared the truth, claiming that He IS the truth and that He would give the “spirit of truth to guide us into all the truth” (John 14:6, 16:13). If we become His disciples (followers), and hold to His teaching, we will “know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32).

Truth is a precious commodity. If we seek Him—and seek to be taught by Him—He will send out His truth, teaching us to walk in it (Psalm 25:5, 42:3, 86:11). We will become “a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18).

Truth is, indeed, a very precious commodity. Buy it, and don’t sell it! To help you find the truth revealed in the Holy Scripture of God, access our many articles and booklets at the Tomorrow’s World website, all completely free of charge. Why not start with the free study guide John 3:16: Hidden Truths of the Golden Verse?