No Repentance, No Truth

John 18:37-38

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. (NIV)

Many search for the truth but will never find it. Pilate was searching for the truth. He was not blindly following the mob. He brings Jesus to a secluded place in search of truth, asking Jesus who He really is. Yet, in the end, he misses it. Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, is standing right in front of him, and he misses it.

Truth is not something we can find without God’s help. The lifestyle of truth requires an opposite response to suffering than the normal human response. Truth is revealed through a Godly response to the trials and tribulations in this life. Christ stood before Pilate, ready to teach him, without anger toward the mob seeking His death. He was full of peace. His own plight did not matter. His greatest desire in this conversation was to help Pilate find salvation and a life of abundance. This kind of response to suffering is essential for finding and living by God’s truth. But, as we can only imagine, it seems impossible to live a life like this in a world so full of pain. We need the Holy Spirit, whom we receive by faith as we repent of our sin.

There is no truth without repentance. Truth is spiritual wisdom we receive only by the Holy Spirit, who speaks to us the mind of Christ after we have decided to trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior. However, it is the sin in our lives that separates us and prevents us from receiving the gift of salvation and the knowledge of His truth. True faith in Jesus will always be accompanied by repentance. We must have a sincere desire to turn away from our sin in gratitude for Christ’s forgiveness. Without repentance, we abuse the grace of God, separating ourselves from Him and from the Holy Spirit, thereby forfeiting the wisdom and power necessary to live out His truth in our lives. 

Even on our journey into the truth of Christ, when we sin, we must repent or turn away from it, to maintain communion with the Holy Spirit to receive the wisdom and the self-discipline to respond to the trials and tribulations in this world in a way that reveals the truth of God teaching us how to navigate this dark world in a way to live above it in the wonders of God. We must repent.

Prayer: Lord, teach us to shun evil and turn from our sin. Help us to hold firm to You instead. And let Your wisdom and power flow into us to live Your truth for an abundant life. Amen.