What to Do When You Don't Know What's True
I’ve heard my share of messages—marketing emails, videos, social media captions, etc.—about “these unprecedented times,” about us all being in this together, about the difficulty of all that’s happening in our nation and in our world. It can be tiresome, as well-meaning as these messages often are and as helpful and unifying as they might be for some.
That’s not what I’m here to do. Every person’s experience of current events and current difficulties is different. Every struggle, unique. I’ll not pretend that I have any words of wisdom to offer those who find themselves in desperate situations. What I do want to offer is a bit of truth. Not another opinion.
When the exhaustion of not knowing what’s true anymore creeps into our psyches and when just the mention of a political topic triggers us and when the pressures of life make us feel splintered on the inside, we need a place to turn. And not just to turn. But I’m talking a drop-everything-and-book-it-like-something’s-chasing-you kind of sprint to wherever home base is—the center, the source of truth, the thing you choose to trust more than your own perception.
I’ve found what this center, this source of truth, is for me, and I’ve made it a practice to run to it—arms flailing, maybe tripping over my own shoelaces a few times—but to get there one way or another, because there is nowhere else I’d rather be and nothing else that withstands every unexpected thing of life.
This center, this source of truth? The character of God. Who HE IS. This, is the only constant we’re given and the only constant we need.
A while back, I wrote something I called my personal “statement of faith.” It was a series of short sentences that I would repeat to myself—truths of who God says I am. This list, this statement, was a place of encouragement and refreshment for me at that time. But lately, I’ve realized I need something more than that.
It must first start with HIM. The truth of who he is can carry me so much farther than the truth of who I am, which is meant to come second; and while it does come, it comes on the coattails of the mighty, wonderful, awe-inspiring reality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is what I believe. This is what carries me. And my prayer is that you can use this simple list of what the Bible tells us is true of God, my personal statement of faith 2.0 if you will, to encourage yourself and to keep moving forward.
Father
He is the creator, owner, and sustainer of all heaven and earth and everything in them. (Deut 10:14; Acts 17:24-25; Col 1:15-18)
He is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth. (Ex 34:5-7)
He is our shield and exceeding great reward. (Gen 15:1)
He is merciful, and his mercy endures forever. (Deut 4:31; Ps 136)
He is love. (1 John 4:8)
He is faithful. (Heb 10:23)
He has redeemed us from the darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. (Col 1:13)
He has given us his kingdom as an inheritance. (Rom 8:17; Luke 12:32)
He wants to dwell with us, and he does. (Rev 21:3)
He is our praise. (Deut 10:12)
He is the God of gods and Lord of lords—he is mighty and awesome, just, and can never be bribed. (Deut 10:17-18)
His name is our strong tower, where we run for safety. (Ps 18:10)
He is the provider for those who trust and seek him, and they lack no good thing. (Ps 34:10; Matt 6:31-33)
He is the Father of Lights, the giver of good gifts. (James 1:17)
He works all things for good. (Rom 8:28)
His heart is ever toward us and for us. (Rom 8:31)
Jesus
By him, through him, and for him were all things created. (Col 1:16)
He is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Col 1:17)
He is the Word made flesh who dwelt among us, and his glory is full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in him. (Col 2:9-10)
He is the exact image of the Father and the brightness of his glory, and he upholds all things by the word of his power. (Heb 1:3; Col 1:15)
He is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)
He is the light of the world. (John 8:12)
He is moved by compassion. (Matt 9:36)
He is the good Shepherd, who gives his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)
He is the Son of God. (John 9:35-37)
He is the only way to the Father. (John 14:6)
He is the source of eternal life. (1 John 5:13)
He rose from the dead, and the power that raised him now lives in us. (Rom 8:11)
He is our Great High Priest, our advocate with the Father. (Heb 4:14-16)
He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:26)
He is the head of the body, the church. (Col 1:15)
He is the head of all principality and power. (Col 2:10)
He came to be a servant to all. (Matt 20:28)
He is/gives the water of life, rivers of living water. (John 4:14; Rev 21:6; Rev 22:1-2)
He is the bread of life, come down from heaven. (John 6:35)
He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Rev 22:13)
He is the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. (Rev 22:16)
He is Emmanuel, God with us. (Matt 1:23)
He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, over a kingdom that cannot be defeated and has no end. (Dan 7:13-14; Is 9:6-7; Rev 19:13,16)
Holy Spirit
He bears witness in our spirits that we are children of God, confirmation and evidence of our belonging. (Rom 8:16; 1 John 1:3)
He was with God from the beginning. (Gen 1:2)
He is the gift promised to us in Christ, given by the Father on behalf of Jesus. (Acts 2:38; John 14:26; Luke 11:13)
He always glorifies and reveals Jesus. (John 16:14)
He is forever our helper, comforter, and teacher. (John 14:16)
He cannot be received by the world. (John 14:17)
He reveals the mysteries of God to us, what the world cannot receive and what the church could not receive but through him. (1 Cor 2:6-12)
He abides with us and dwells within us. (John 15:17; 1 Cor 6:19)
He convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. (John 16:8)
He, the Spirit of Truth, guides us into all truth. (John 16:13)
He shows us what is to come. (John 16:13)
His way of life in us delivers us from condemnation. (Rom 8:1)
His presence brings freedom. (2 Cor 3:17)
His power causes us to abound in hope. (Rom 15:13)
He fills us with power to speak the word of God with boldness and be a witness for Jesus in all the earth. (Acts 1:8; Acts 4:31)
He pours divine love into our hearts. (Rom 5:5)
He can be grieved, and we are warned not to be the cause of it. (Eph 4:30)
He is the strength and ability by which we serve and accomplish anything for God. (Zech 4:6)
He is poured out on all the sons and daughters of God, all flesh, with no partiality or favoritism. (Acts 2:17-18)
He manifests himself to and through each of God’s people in whom he dwells, for the profit of all—through the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues. He distributes these individually as he wills. (Acts 2:4; Acts 2:17-18; 1 Cor 12:7-11)
He is the source of true unity. (Eph 4:3-6)
He is the seal, the guarantee, of our inheritance in Christ. (Eph 1:13-14;
He supports us in our weakness, when we don’t know what to pray, and intercedes on our behalf. (Rom 8:26)
He produces good fruit in our lives as we live yielded to him: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23)
He is the person of God, Jesus’s promised presence with us to the end of time. (Matt 28:20; John 16:7)
Alessandro Magnasco, The Baptism of Christ, 1740