“Building Your Life on Values That Last” in American Sign LanguageSample

You Can Know Truth By Looking at God
By Rick Warren

“[God] shows how to distinguish right from wrong, how to find the right decision every time.” (Proverbs 2:9 TLB)

Like I mentioned yesterday, three philosophies — individualism, secularism, and relativism — have devastated our society’s moral thermometer over the past few decades. The consequences have been dramatic on society in general and each of us individually.

So what do we do about it?

You have to start with God. He embodies truth. What is right and wrong gets its meaning in the character of God himself. Dishonesty is wrong because God is honest. Unfaithfulness is wrong because God is faithful. You can know the truth by looking at how God interacts with us.

The Bible says, “[God] shows how to distinguish right from wrong, how to find the right decision every time” (Proverbs 2:9 TLB). We can know the character of God through his Word. The Bible tells us what’s true whether we like what it says or not.

Once we encounter truth, God’s truth, we’ll recognize two key features of it every time we see it.

1. It’s universal. It applies to everyone. If it doesn’t apply to everyone, it’s not truth. It’s an opinion.

2. It’s unchanging. It won’t be moved by fads or fashions. Adultery was wrong 2,000 years ago; it’s wrong today and will be wrong 4,000 years from today.

The choice is yours. A few years back, Newsweek summarized this question on the cover of their magazine. They asked, “Whose justice? Whose morality? Whose community? Whose family? Whose values?”

That’s your choice each and every day. Our world today gives us three options for how to discover truth. We can base our morality on what we think, what other people think, or what God thinks. We really have no other options.

Our choice will dictate how we live, love, and, someday, die. But it’s our choice.

What will you choose?

Talk It Over

How has our culture tried to convince us that truth changes?

Why do you have to make the choice every day to base your morals on God’s truth?

What do you need to do to better understand God’s character through his Word, the Bible?