Lord Jesus Christ, Teach Me to Seek Truth

Project: The Pilgrim Continues His Way
Series: Lord Jesus Christ, Teach Me to See
*Part 6: Teach Me to Seek Truth

Source: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Author Unknown, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, Boulder, 2001.

Jesus said:

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
—John 8:31–32, NRSVA

There is one word in that passage that has become especially important to me:

Continue.

Following Jesus is not something I finish.

I continue.

I continue learning.

I continue questioning.

I continue listening.

I continue praying.

I continue changing.

I continue growing in grace.

And I continue seeking truth.

The Pilgrim Is Still Learning

In the Sixth Meeting of The Pilgrim Continues His Way, the Professor and the Pilgrim listen as the Skhimnik explains unceasing prayer and its relationship to salvation.

As I have followed their conversation, I have sometimes agreed immediately with what I read. At other times I have stopped and questioned it. Sometimes the teaching has caused me to return to the Sacred Writings and look again.

That is part of being a pilgrim.

I am still learning.

I am still looking through imperfect glass.

So another prayer has entered my School of Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to seek truth.

Not:

Lord, prove that I am right.

Not:

Lord, show me something that agrees with what I already believe.

But:

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to seek truth.

And if I discover that I am wrong:

Give me the grace to change.

What Is Truth?

We use the word truth easily.

For me, truth concerns what really is—what is real, what is trustworthy, what corresponds with reality.

But that raises another question:

How do I know?

Every day I encounter claims about what is true.

I hear sermons.

I read books.

I have conversations.

I read articles.

I watch television.

I encounter social media.

I listen to teachers.

I remember things I was taught years ago.

I have experiences that challenge what I thought I knew.

Something can sound convincing and still be wrong.

Something can be repeated thousands of times and still be wrong.

Something can agree with me and still be wrong.

Something can come from someone I trust and still need examination.

And I can sincerely believe something and still be mistaken.

So how do I seek truth?

As a follower of Jesus, I have learned to use four sources together:

Sacred Writings.
Tradition.
Experience.
Reason.

They are not four unrelated boxes.

They are in conversation with one another.

Sacred Writings

My primary source is the Sacred Writings.

I deliberately use that expression.

The word Bible refers to books—a collection of writings. Calling them Sacred Writings reminds me that these are more than books sitting on my shelf.

They contain stories, prayers, poetry, prophecy, wisdom, letters, teachings, struggles, failures, and encounters that bear witness to humanity’s relationship with God.

They teach me about relationships with God, my neighbor, myself, and creation.

The Bible is my primary collection of Sacred Writings.

I have also read and studied writings that other religious traditions consider sacred. I can listen respectfully and learn from them without pretending that every religious text has the same place in my own faith.

For me, the Sacred Writings of the Christian tradition remain primary.

But even then I must pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to see.

Because reading words and understanding them are not necessarily the same thing.

I bring myself to the text.

My culture.

My education.

My experiences.

My denomination.

My assumptions.

My wounds.

My prejudices.

My biases.

And sometimes my desire to be right.

So even when I open the Sacred Writings, I need humility.

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to seek truth.

Tradition

Then there is Tradition.

I am not the first person to walk this road.

For centuries, people have tried to understand and apply the truths they encountered in the Sacred Writings.

Tradition has given us prayers, worship, liturgies, sacraments, creeds, theological reflection, spiritual disciplines, methods of interpretation, and different ways of understanding what it means to follow Jesus.

Even the Jesus Prayer that has become so important in these reflections comes to me through Tradition.

Tradition allows me to ask:

How have those who walked before me understood this?

That matters.

I do not have to pretend that Christianity began when I arrived.

But Tradition must also be examined.

Old does not automatically mean true.

Church traditions have sometimes reflected the prejudices, fears, cultural assumptions, and struggles for power of the people who created them.

So when a tradition cannot be supported by the teachings and principles I find in the Sacred Writings, I return to the Sacred Writings as my primary source.

Not merely to find a verse that proves my position.

I return to listen again.

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to seek truth.

Experience

Then there is Experience.

Every day is a day the Lord has made.

And every day I live in that one room called life.

I encounter people.

I make decisions.

I succeed.

I fail.

I love.

I hurt.

I misunderstand.

I discover.

I remember.

I change.

And sometimes my experiences challenge what Tradition has taught me.

Sometimes they even make me question what I thought the Sacred Writings were saying.

That does not necessarily mean I am abandoning faith.

Sometimes experience sends me back to the text.

Maybe I misunderstood it.

Maybe I was taught only one interpretation.

Maybe my assumptions were shaping what I thought I saw.

Or maybe I am misunderstanding the experience itself.

Experience is a wonderful teacher.

But experience is not an infallible teacher.

Two people can experience the same event and understand it differently.

My feelings about something are real, but my feelings alone do not make my interpretation true.

So I bring Experience into conversation with Sacred Writings and Tradition.

Experience helps me learn.

It also gives me the opportunity to apply what I believe.

I can read the Good Samaritan many times.

I can study centuries of interpretations of the Good Samaritan.

But eventually I encounter someone beside the road.

Then the question becomes:

What does the truth Jesus taught mean here?

That is where truth enters life.

Reason

Then I come to Reason.

Reason asks questions.

Does this make sense?

Is this doable?

Will it work?

Does this fit with my understanding of the Sacred Writings?

What does Tradition tell me?

What has Experience taught me?

Am I making an assumption?

Have I misunderstood something?

And perhaps the most difficult question:

Do I need to change?

Reason is not the enemy of faith.

Reason helps me examine what I believe I have seen.

But reason also needs humility.

I can construct a perfectly reasonable argument defending something I desperately want to believe.

I can use all four sources to prove myself right if proving myself right is my real goal.

So again I must pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to seek truth—not merely evidence that I am right.

Whatever Is True

Paul gives me another guide in Philippians 4:8.

He tells us to think about whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.

That gives me another way of examining what I believe.

Is it true?

Is it just?

Is it honorable?

Is it pure?

Is it lovely?

Is it commendable?

Is there excellence here?

Is it worthy of praise?

And then I can ask another question from the Sacred Writings:

What kind of fruit does this produce?

Does what I believe produce love?

Joy?

Peace?

Patience?

Kindness?

Goodness?

Faithfulness?

Gentleness?

Self-control?

Jesus said that we recognize things by their fruit.

That does not mean whatever feels pleasant must be true.

Truth can challenge me.

Truth can make me uncomfortable.

Truth can expose something in me that needs changing.

But as a follower of Jesus, I cannot completely separate what I call truth from the kind of life that truth produces.

Four Sources—One Search

So these four sources remain in conversation:

Sacred Writings ask:
What have I received?

Tradition asks:
How have those before me understood and lived this?

Experience asks:
What am I actually encountering as I live it?

Reason asks:
Does this make sense? How do these things fit together? Do I need to reconsider something?

Together they help me gain a clearer understanding of what is true and what is right.

But none of this makes me infallible.

I am still looking through imperfect glass.

I am still under construction.

I am still living in the one room called life.

And sanctifying grace is still working.

Sometimes Experience challenges me.

I return to Sacred Writings.

I listen to Tradition.

I apply Reason.

I pray.

I look at the fruit.

And suddenly I see something I could not see before.

The glass becomes a little clearer.

And then grace asks:

Now that you see it, what are you going to do about it?

Because truth is not simply something to possess.

Truth transforms.

Continue

That brings me back to Jesus:

“If you continue in my word…”

Continue.

I don’t have to know everything today.

I don’t have to pretend that every conclusion I have reached is the final word.

I don’t have to be afraid when an experience causes me to ask another question.

I don’t have to defend something simply because I have believed it for a long time.

I can continue.

Continue reading.

Continue listening.

Continue experiencing.

Continue reasoning.

Continue praying.

Continue learning.

Continue changing.

Continue growing in grace.

And continue following Jesus.

So today my prayer is:

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to seek truth.

When I read the Sacred Writings, teach me to see.

When I listen to Tradition, teach me to discern.

When Experience challenges me, teach me to listen.

When I use Reason, teach me humility.

When I am wrong, teach me to admit it.

When I need to change, give me the grace to change.

When I discover truth, teach me to live it.

And when I think I have finally figured everything out—

Lord Jesus Christ, remind me that I am still a pilgrim.

God is love.

I am still in the room.

I am still under construction.

And grace is still teaching me to seek the truth that makes us free.