TRUTH-SERUM refers to a drug used to obtain the truth from a person unable or unwilling to provide it otherwise. But it’s a MYTH. There is no drug proven to enhance truth-telling.
Bummer.
Since we lie to ourselves far more than others lie to us, it would be a good thing if Christians had some TRUTH SERUM (if it existed) to tell OURSELVES the truth about our FEARS.
When fear is resident and raging, we scramble to find TRUTH by summoning the part of our brain responsible for wise decisions. While God has given us the natural capability to make a split-second response to fear; the fear’s CONTEXT and what we SHOULD do in response are not automatic human reflexes.
Only God can set our fear’s CONTEXT. And the ONLY way to have the proper (real) context is to know the TRUTH. And the only place to find the TRUTH is in GOD’S WORD.
This is where the GOSPEL TRUTH comes into play. An idiom originating in the 13th Century to describe Biblical truths, telling the “Gospel Truth” expanded in the 1600’s to characterize anything thought to be “as true as God’s Word.”
We need to go back to that saying’s original meaning—THE GOSPEL TRUTH—what God’s Words says.
Our brain has the capacity to insert information into the “response-mix” in near real time. But this FEAR OVERRIDE cannot be activated unless it is programmed by God’s Word of TRUTH.
It’s the same principle of CONTEXT at work when we jump out of our seats during a scary movie. Our fright is momentary and quickly brought under control by the reality that we are sitting in a movie theater.
I ask God to inspire me to ask him for the CONTEXT around my fear. To be certain of who I am in the valley of the shadow of death. To know where my security comes from—HIM. To be able to say in the face of my fear: “I will love God and fear nothing.”
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you taking the time to get GOD’S TRUTH SERUM when fear hits and before it infects your mind and impacts your joy?
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
