January | 2013 | Mountaintop Mentoring

Pilate asked this question of Jesus and then didn’t give him an opportunity to respond. Perhaps Pilate was scared of the truth and how it might change his way of thinking and living.

If Jesus had been given a chance to respond, I think he would have simply said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). This statement would certainly have caused Pilate to reconsider his ways of thinking and living for if Jesus Christ is the way and the truth then we have to choose to obey the truth or reject the truth. If we choose to obey the truth then we will follow Jesus Christ’s example of living and loving as set forth in His gospel. As we do so, we will be blessed with the abundant life and freedom. Jesus promised “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). As we come to “know the truth,” even Jesus Christ, and start living His way, then the Son and “the truth shall make [us] free” (John 8:32, 36), free to know and be who we really are, sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father, and free to become all that we can and want to be, “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

In his recent CES address, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf answered Pilate’s question “What is truth?” He declared that the gospel of Jesus Christ is truth. He affirmed that “truth exists beyond belief” and “truth is true even if no one believes it.” We can know the truth by the Holy Ghost, even the “Spirit of truth” (John 16:13) if we will simply ask of God in faith, believing that we will receive for God is the source of all truth because He knows all things. We show our love of truth and our love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ by believing in them and loving them “in deed and in truth,” which means keeping their commandments and loving one another (1 John 3:18-24). They have promised that we will be sanctified and saved by believing the truth and loving the truth “in every good word and work” (see 2 Thess. 2:8-17 and John 17:17, 19). This sanctification and saving process that occurs as we live the truth makes us stronger and better than we are or could ever hope to be by walking in our own way. “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

More points to ponder as you watch President Uchtdorf’s message: