April 15

“If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God…” (Jn 7:17). When Pilate asked Jesus the question, “What is truth?” Jesus answered him with a categorical response. In effect, Jesus was asking Pilate if his was a genuine question or purely an academic one. Jesus was not merely checking on Pilate’s sincerity. He was opening up Pilate’s heart to himself, to reveal to Pilate his unwillingness to deal with the implications of Jesus’ answer. “They who are on the side of truth, listen to Me” (Jn 18:37), He said. Intent in the pursuit of truth is prior to content, or to the availability of it. The author George Macdonald once said, “To give truth to him who loves it not is only to give him more plentiful reasons for misinterpretation.” The struggle in our time is posed as one of the intellect, in the assertion that truth is unknowable. But that may be only a veneer for the real struggle, which is that of the heart. —Ravi Zacharias