In Leicester recently, a young bus driver on his way to start his shift, came up and asked, ‘What is true? What is the meaning of life? Is there a God?’ He carried on, ‘If I “Google” these things, I’ll get millions of answers, which is no good!’ How do we deal with those who seem to have lost all trust?

A great problem of our age

A century ago, the writer G. K. Chesterton commented: ‘When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.’ How well these words describe our age! In the last 20 years, the world wide web has caused a tsunami of information, ideas and theories. Some are true, good and useful, but much promotes man’s God-rejecting agenda, and targets minds hungry for meaning and purpose. Never before have there been so many ‘alternatives’ to the real-world truths of God’s creation. This information overload distracts people from life-and-death realities, as well as giving truth-seekers endless ‘rabbit-holes’ down which to get lost.

‘When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.’

The internet has given a platform to many persuasive ‘prophets’ of religion, culture and identity. The result is an undermining of trust in democratic government and the encouraging of mistrust, hidden agenda and conspiracy theories. Covid conspiracies, transgender ideology and flat-earth theory are just some of the fruits that have emerged recently.

Understanding the heart of it

How can the Christian make sense of all this? We are made in the image of God. He is Truth; therefore the need for truth is hard-wired into us. Knowledge of the truth, uniquely through a relationship with God, perfectly satisfies all intellectual and emotional needs. One of the tragic effects of the fall was a severance of this perfect, personal knowledge of God, but there remains a hunger for truth that needs to be satisfied. The truth about God as the divine Creator is clear (Romans 1), but as men and women reject this truth, they are ‘given over’ to futile thinking. As a result, people are lost and bewildered, ‘having no hope and without God in the world’ (Ephesians 2:12). Only the power of God in Christ Jesus lifts a person out of this dilemma. God alone is the one who is true, who always speaks the truth, who knows and loves the sinner and can rescue them from their sin.

Responding with the truth

So how should the Christian, eager to share God’s saving truth with lost souls, respond to the scepticism and mistrust of our age? Firstly, be confident in the God of truth who has revealed Himself to you through His Word, as Creator, Lord and Saviour: ‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:22). The Apostle Paul describes your restored relationship with God like this: ‘For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:6). As you are ‘holding fast the faithful word’ (Titus 1:9), loving and looking to Jesus your Saviour, you can in confidence and humility ‘hold forth the word of life’ (Philippians 2:16, AV). The believer has a wonderful personal experience of Him and His saving truth to share with the lost.

Secondly, you can confidently point to the external evidence for the foundation for your faith, especially the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There is always a place for apologetics in evangelism, a ‘first base’ in explaining the truth of the gospel. 1 Peter 3:15 says, ‘But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.’

Thirdly, however, the most convincing ‘proof’ will always be the evidence of your testimony and new life in Christ. Lost souls, hungry for truth, seek authenticity – ‘Is it true? Is it real? Can I trust it?’ Through the fog of religious confusion and hypocrisy, it is the evidence of a humble life filled with God and lived out in the real world that speaks most powerfully and convincingly of God’s great love for the lost and His power to save.

The bus driver I met in Leicester was starving for the truth. It was a joy and privilege to direct him to the living God through His Son, ‘the way and the truth and the life’ (John 14:6).