I Tell You The Truth

    I Tell You The Truth

By Tracee Persiko

One of my favorite phrases in the scripture is, John 16:7 "I tell you the truth." Even just saying it now makes me exhale. “I tell you the truth.” How freeing is that phrase?

The phrase seems kind of weird to use when responding to a question or even an accusation. However, Jesus would begin the majority of his responses with, “I tell you the truth.” I mean just in case there was any question about His integrity or the reliability of His words. Ha!

Jesus is about truth. He is truth.

You have to admit that He said some illogical things. He told stories that seemed too wise for His own educational stature. Jesus performed miracles on the body and heart all the time. He healed the sick, multiplied food to eat, raised the dead, made the blind person see in eyes and heart, and He redefined life as people knew it to be.

Jesus was about the “hard to believe.” His life looked and sounded like the “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I tell you the truth” is such a comforting phrase for me. I see all the things that Jesus did in the bible and it leaves my mouth on the floor. I see what He still does in my story, as well as the stories of other people’s, and my mouth is still on the floor. That is truth.

I have spent a lot of my life believing in what I thought was truth. I believed that growing up with a learning disability disqualified me from even writing this blog. I believed that because my father left our family that I was worth leaving. Out of that, I have believed that even the best people cannot be trusted. Through raising myself in a lot of ways, I have learned to believe that life is up to me and self-sufficiency is the only way for my story to work.

I have been told “truth” and I have told myself “truth.” The truth is that I really didn’t know truth at all. So to even hear the words, “I tell you the truth” over and over again is so refreshing to my soul. God never makes me guess. Even though His truth looks so unbelievable and so illogical, it doesn’t make His truth any less truth.

Now, I exhale in hearing Him say, “Tracee, I tell you the truth. You are my beloved and my daughter. You are wired just the way I made you. You are worth dying for and keeping close. Life is known in following and trusting after me.”

Truth takes faith and trust. Jesus has proven His truth to me. I’m not at all saying I fully understand His truth for me, but I am learning to hear it over what I have settled for as truth.

What is the truth you know?

What are some lies you need to replace with truth??