Truth, a word that invokes a kind of feeling of justice, fairness, goodness. It’s inherently a word that has pretty good connotations to it. However, in a world that isn’t just black and white, where so many things are so grey, how does truth stand in such a time as this?

Bringing it down to a less abstract level, our daily lives. Remember the times when we tell our secrets to our best friends, and we would always be sooooo eager to find out the truth about “hey does he really like her?” and all those sort of things? Haha, those were the days when things were less complicated, and more objective to some extent. But i’ve come to a point, where sometimes i wonder, is truth objective or subjective? If it is subjective, is that even truth?

So then of course we have to look at how we define truth, and how we want to look at it. I’d first like to look at truth in an interpersonal relation. Have you ever felt,

A: “HEY I THOUGHT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THAT?”
B: “Huh, but i never meant it to be like that”

Well i certainly have! Misunderstandings happen so very often in our lives. From small ones to big ones, they come in different situations, with different people, and at different times. So why do misunderstandings happen? I’d like to propose that it’s because of the difference of “truth” that we see that makes such things happen. Before i continue, there is something i learnt in my course of Psychology. It’s called perceptual salience. Haha whoooa, cheem word. Basically what it means is that whatever information is available to us, we tend to think that information is causal of what is happening, when sometimes in actual fact, the information available to us is only a small fraction of what is really happening.

This effect is very important in this post because it affects how we see “truth”. A lot of times we view the world through our own lens, and that’s about it. So if let’s say i live in a place where i only see red apples, i would think: “All apples are red”. But if in another part of the world, a person sees only green apples, he would think: “All apples are green”. Let me ask you then, are all apples only red, only green, or both? Well obviously it’s both for this example! But the “truth” that i saw and the “truth” that the other person saw weren’t false either! It was just that both of us had an inaccurate picture of what the actual truth is.

This is where the problem arises. A lot of times we see that the problem is due to the lack of accurate and complete information that we misunderstand. So then the issue is, how do we get this accurate and complete information? I would say it would be to communicate! But a lot of times we are so fixated with our “truth”, that we don’t want to believe in any other things aside from what we think. Of course as you are reading this, you’ll probably think “nah i’m not like that, i listen to the other person”. If that’s really the case, keep up the good work!! But i think a lot of us, myself at times included, might just “hear” what the person says, and is not really listening. OR, we don’t even want to hear from them at all.

But i guess in any kind of interpersonal relation, is being “RIGHT” the most important thing? Well, in psychology we learn that one of the two important needs a person need is knowing that he/she is right. Quoting a friend of mine, “is it really that important whether i’m right, you’re wrong, when there’s a difference in “truth”? “I think this is where Philippians 2:3 comes in

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

It’s no longer a matter of who’s right or wrong. But about bringing the misunderstanding to God, and to work together. Even if i am 90% right, and only 10% wrong, i guess this verse means to be humble enough to consider that my fellow brother/sister is 10% correct, and how can we work together to come back into a healthy relationship with one another. Does being humble mean disregarding your side of the story, and just look at the other person? NO! What i mean is to be humble enough to listen and accept the other side of the story! If you disregard your own, it isn’t true love cause i’m sure deep within, some sort of resentment forms. Especially the next time  if something similar happens, you’ll look back and say “see this always happens.. and i always have to be the one giving…” and stuff like that.

So truth is really truth only when it is complete and accurate. And this can only be found consistently through God’s word, He Himself. The Alpha and the Omega. The First and the Last. The author and finisher of our faith. Because He is complete, we are able to know that He is true because He isn’t lacking in anything, perfect in every way. So can we trust what He says? Yup we can. Even when sometimes it might be painful, or it doesn’t make sense at first, trust Him cause He’s the only one who holds the true truth. =)

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