The Moment of Truth

“The moment of truth.” Just saying that phrase is dramatic, isn’t it? A glance at several dictionaries shows that the original meaning of this phrase refers to “the moment in a bullfight at which the matador is about to make the kill”. Picture the scene in your mind. The huge bull, with spears hanging from its neck, makes one last charge at the exhausted matador.

The young man, his gold encrusted outfit stained with bull’s blood waits, sword poised for the last mortal thrust. All eyes in the stadium are fixed on man and beast. It is a matter of life and death. But who will live? Who will die? Such a scene truly is “the moment of truth”.

In everyday language the term “moment of truth” has taken on the meaning of “a moment or crisis on whose outcome much or everything depends.” Think of some of the “moments of truth” in American history: the decision to write the Declaration of Independence, the battle of Gettysburg, the assassination of President Lincoln, the invasion of Normandy on D-Day. The outcomes and implications of each one of those events was uncertain and had they turned out differently, the United States might well be a much different country than it is today.

From a biblical way of looking at things, the moment of truth in the life of every human being is that moment when we understand who Jesus Christ is and what he did for us. But that is not where it ends. What defines the moment of truth is what we do with Jesus. Do we put our faith in him or walk away? That is THE moment of truth because our reaction determines our eternal future.
This Saturday evening (6:00 pm) and Sunday morning (10:00 am) we’ll meet two men who came face to face with Jesus Christ. In their moment of truth one got upset and walked away, the other thought for a moment and then blinked.

Have you had your “moment of truth”?