When we examine the world scene today, it's obvious that the majority of people are letting the truth, that is, the truth about God, slip away. When we call on their homes, the response of many is "I'm not interested" or "I'm busy". Others even deny the existence of truth.

For example, consider what physicist Albert Einstein said regarding the concept of truth: "The meaning of the word 'truth' varies according to whether we deal with a fact of experience, a mathematical proposition, or a scientific theory. 'Religious truth' conveys nothing clear to me at all."

This type of attitude is not a new one. In fact, we have a Bible example of an attitude very similar to that of Einstein in this regard. It's recorded for us in the book of John, chapter 18. As we open our Bibles there, we'll find that this is the account of Jesus being sent before the Roman official Pontius Pilate. And Jesus is trying to give a little witness to Mr. Pilate, but as we read the account in verses 37 and 38, notice Pilate's attitude:

"Therefore Pilate said to him: 'Well, then, are you a king?' Jesus answered: 'You yourself are saying that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is on the side of the truth listens to my voice.' Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?' "

Perhaps Pilate's thought about the concept of 'truth' was similar to Einstein's. He thought that the idea of real 'truth' was nothing more than a gimmick, a mirage, an opinion. But, how wrong he was!

Pontius Pilate, like many today, are letting the truth slip by.

But I know what many of you are thinking--we're already Jehovah's Witnesses, we're already in the 'truth', so I'm not letting the truth slip by, he must not be talking about me! Well, although practically all of us here believe that Jehovah's Witnesses have the 'truth', that doesn't necessarily mean that each of us, individually, has a firm hold on the truth.

Some of us may find that, after careful self-examination, we have to grip the truth a little harder, just like you have to grip the steering wheel of your car during a storm. Brothers, we're in a spiritual storm right now, so if there's any time in which we should be gripping our spiritual steering wheels, it's right now.

The Bible, in the book of Proverbs, poetically speaks of truth as a precious commodity. Notice Proverbs 23:23 in your Bible:

"Buy truth itself and do not sell it--wisdom and discipline and understanding."

That's a short verse, but O how powerful it is! Now, thinking about the wording of this verse, we can see how precious the truth really is. Here, it's described as something that you want to get a hold of, but you don't want to sell it, at any price. Evidently, 'truth' here is something that can't be measured in dollars and cents.

Think of it this way: Can you think of something that is so valuable to you that you could never get rid of it, no matter how much anybody was willing to pay you for it? (Pause.) Sometimes people receive heirlooms that have been in the family for centuries. Maybe a piece of jewelry. Now that piece of jewelry may not even be all that valuable, in fact it may even be rather ugly, but would you ever want to sell it to the pawn shop?

It's the same way with the truth. Outsiders may look at the truth and say, "I could never be one of Jehovah's Witnesses. It's such a hard way of life." They may not be able to appreciate the truth, but to us, the truth is more than just a way of life. It's something that we should be attached to, something that we wouldn't want to get rid of, not for anything in the world. We would never want to 'sell out' when it comes to the truth.

But have you ever wondered how we 'buy truth'? I thought Revelation 22:17 said that life's water is free! So why do we have to 'pay' for truth? Well, in a monetary way, the truth definitely is free. Someone came to our home and personally taught us the truth. Now, in the world, personal tutoring services don't come cheap, but our Bible teacher didn't charge us a dime. But the truth certainly came at a price! And what price was that?

Well, the apostle Paul had to pay the price for learning the truth, and he gives us a clue in Philippians 3:8. Let's read that together:

"Why, for that matter, I do indeed consider all things to be loss on account of the excelling value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. On account of him I have taken the loss of all things and I consider them as a lot of refuse, that I may gain Christ."

Now, according to this verse, Paul's price for the truth was not cheap. In fact, did you notice that it says he took the 'loss of all things' for the truth? Yes, the truth cost him everything! It cost him his status in the community, it cost him his rapport with the Jews, it cost him his wealth, it cost him his life. Learning the truth about God requires time and effort, not just while you're still learning the basics, but for the rest of your life.

So are we paying the price for knowing the truth? If we don't pay the price for the truth, that is, if we don't put the time and effort into it that it requires, then we're not going to get the greatest benefit out of it. It's much like owning a car. If you don't want to pay the price for gas, you're not going to get very far. And if you don't want to pay the money to put oil in the engine, you're going to get even less use out of that car.

So, if we don't study, if we don't come to the meetings, if we don't share regularly in the ministry, we're not going to feel the attachment to the truth that we talked about earlier. We could get into a rut, not really making the truth our own.

Sadly, some brothers and sisters are letting the truth slip by. Excessive recreation, television watching, material pursuits, have all caused many of our dear ones to miss out. Maybe they have some recreation on Saturday night. Possibly that keeps them from reviewing their Watchtower Study for the next day. And maybe they 'party a little too hearty' that night, and they're too tired to even go to the meeting.

Some see a beautiful Sunday and they want to go out on the lake. It takes too long to get the boat out just to do it for a couple of hours in the afternoon, so they miss the meeting to go boating. Once again, a case of letting the truth slip by.

Some are letting their field ministry activity slide. It seems that the rudeness and apathy of many in the territory are discouraging many of us, and that's natural. Nobody wants to go out in the elements and drive a long way, only to get the door slammed in your face, or not to find anybody at home. But, brothers, please remember that no matter what the response of our territory is, for every door that we knock on, Jehovah's warm, loving smile of approval is upon us. And the angels are paying attention, too. They're observing very carefully how every single householder treats us, and they're taking notes. So think of that the next time a householder is rude to you, or slams the door on you.

In order to fight this spiritual slippage, we want to be using our mental capabilities as much as we can. We should thirst for Bible knowledge, especially the deeper things of God's Word. Many of us remember the illustration in the August 15, 1993, Watchtower, on page 15, about "mental permafrost." The picture on that page was quite memorable. It had a picture of a frozen brain. Now, if we find that we aren't gaining as much happiness from the truth as we used to, then we may have a case of 'frozen brain'. So, heat it up! Dig into the deeper things of God's Word, pray for his help and holy spirit, prepare for and share in the ministry, and be at all the meetings, encouraging others. In these ways, we can make sure that, as individuals, our minds are filled with the truth, and then it will be easier to make the truth our own and stop spiritual fatigue.

So, once again, we pose the question, "Am I Letting the Truth Slip By?" Whatever our answer may be, whether we are strong in the truth or whether we may find ourselves slipping, let us all work hard to keep a firm grip on our faith. That way, we can hang on to the truth as the priceless treasure that it is.

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