It seems that everything is in such a state of flux that there is very little we can be sure of anymore. What used to be so certain has either passed from the scene or is undergoing such radical change that it is barely recognizable.

In the midst of such instability, there is an ongoing quest to find something to lay hold of that is reliable, something we can be assured of that will enable us to stand in the midst of continual and even cataclysmic change. Even the ability to know truth, the one constant in a sea of uncertainty, is being questioned in this postmodern age.

However, Jesus refutes the whole notion of not being able to know the truth with his pronouncement that "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Our ability to know the truth is directly related to our aggressiveness in seeking the truth. Jesus also declared if we seek, we will find. And that precisely is the problem. We don't seek truth. Instead, when our experience doesn't match what we profess to believe as truth and reality, we succumb to the lie that truth is unable to be known.

The other side of that coin is such an adamant stance on our limited understanding of the word of God as the whole truth that we cease to seek further understanding. The reality is that what we don't know of the truth far exceeds what we do know.

Too often we allow our shallow understanding of the word of God to be the final word, even when our experience at times seems to contradict our understanding of the word. God uses our experience as a doorway into greater understanding of the truth. It's sad when so many of us refuse to use the doorway of experience as a means of entering into greater understanding and knowledge of the truth. We fear that new illumination into the infinite truth of God will shatter what we have believed to be the whole truth.

Then there is the issue of pride. Pastors and teachers are especially vulnerable to this, being that new understanding of the truth will require them to retract and revamp what they have previously taught. Thus it is important that we hold our understanding of truth loosely, admitting that this is only what we presently understand as we look through this glass darkly.