A Holy Hunger for Truth
Written by F. LaGard Smith
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."
Acts 17:11
Remember that conversation between Jesus and Pilate when Jesus said, "I came into the world to testify to the truth; everyone on the side of truth listens to me?" Famously, Pilate responded, "What is truth?" The definite article here is conspicuous by its omission. Pilate didn't ask "What is the truth?" (which assumes the existence of truth itself), but "What is truth?" (as if asking whether there is such a thing as ultimate truth). If Pilate had his doubts about some higher truth, he nevertheless has a keen sense of judicial truth that led him to believe that Jesus was innocent. Unfortunately, he was also aware of another competing truth: that he risked Caesar's disfavor if Jesus - who claimed to be "a king" - were let go. That baser truth won out over a much more profound truth. One can only wonder what might have resulted had Pilate been more convinced about higher truth itself.
In an increasing relativistic world, the dogged pursuit of truth is fast becoming a rare commodity. If there is no ultimate truth, why should we invest our hearts and minds in searching for the truth among competing truth claims? For the Bereans to be divinely applauded for their passionate pursuit of the truth must mean, first and foremost, that they valued truth above all else. The Bereans had a holy hunger for divine truth, which they knew intuitively could be found in the Scriptures alone, not in any mere mortal. And so the words of every man were carefully, prayerfully, and stringently measured against God's divinely revealed truth.
The searching question is: Do I have such a consuming passion for truth that I scrupulously test everything I hear against that standard?
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