The law of supply and demand is simple: if the demand is greater than the supply, the price goes up; if the supply exceeds the demand, the price goes down.  This affects all commodities, and has been highlighted by the recent worldwide economic crisis.   Everything from gold and oil to currency, bread, and corn have seen their prices rise and fall according to the law of supply and demand.  This principle does not affect the inherent value of the particular commodity – only the price on the open market.

Even ideas are susceptible to these market forces, and Truth has become one of the victims.

The Scriptures show that truth is a commodity, “Buy the truth, and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23).  He also adds wisdom, and instruction, and understanding to the recommended portfolio.  Sometimes the truth is not in very high demand, and, in the open market, it brings a very meager price.  If good business sense requires one to “buy low and sell high,” then the truth seems to be a poor investment, because it certainly appears that it comes with a steep cost, but is difficult event to give away.

News agencies – deeply concerned with their ratings – are often more occupied with predicting future events and ultimate outcomes, than with reporting the actual events that have occurred.  Hype sells, while the truth is boring.  Much of the reported news reflects an agenda or world view held by the agency, regardless of their political position, and therefore a skewed representation of the facts.

A witness in court swears “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” but when queried about the facts, is curtailed by the lawyer and forced to confine the answers specifically to the question.  Lawyers often know that “the whole truth” would be devastating to a case, and have fashioned an entire industry around manipulating how the truth is presented to achieve their goals.

Today, if you visit a Christian bookstore, you will find a relatively small section devoted to Bibles while the majority of the square footage is dedicated to books written by Christian authors.  In fact, “Christian” fiction books are some of the hottest items on the shelves.

The Left Behind® series sold millions and millions of copies, and raked in huge amounts of money from Christian (and non-Christian) pockets.  While they purport to flesh out a modern interpretation of the end times, they remain fictitious literary works, with no more real truth than any other novel.

Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).  How can one put a price on freedom?  In America, freedom is seen to have been purchased by the blood of thousands of men and women, willing to commit their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.  However, with this simple statement, Jesus showed that, as valuable as freedom, life, fortunes and honor are, truth is more so.

Like all commodities, Truth has an inherent, intrinsic value.  Before refrigeration, salt was once used as a preservative, and was extremely valuable (because the demand was so high).  Salt was given as payment for labor, and is the why we call our wages a “salary.”  Today, salt is considered a common item, found even in the poorest of households, and sometimes just thrown away without a second thought.  While salt’s market value has greatly decreased due to market forces, salt’s intrinsic value has not changed.  It may be cheaper and more common, but it still has the same preserving qualities it always had.  It is still able to redeem many a poorly prepared meal by adding much needed flavor.  It has not lost its inherent value one iota.

Likewise, oil has an intrinsic value that is not reflected by price.  In 2008, the market price of oil skyrocketed, sending the price of gasoline to over $4.00 per gallon.  A gallon of gasoline, now under $2.00, has an inherent value.  You get the same miles per gallon at $4.00 that you get at $2.00: the gasoline goes just as far as it always did, it is just that your money no longer does.

So it is with truth.  When the truth is popular, all kinds of people will be willing to embrace and promote it.  The truth will always set you free: that will never change, for Jesus’ words can never fail.  But, if the truth falls out of public favor, the opportunists will abandon it for that which the fickle public desires, and truth’s market value will plummet.

The Pharisees were not seeking truth for its intrinsic value when they came to John the Baptist, but because the truth which John was preaching was “all the rage” in those days, they, too, desired to get in on what seemed to be the hot investment.  A few years later, like the “dot-com” bubble of 1990s, John’s preaching was over and John was beheaded.  The fad had passed, many lives were changed, but most went back to business as usual.

Isaiah’s prophecy describes a condition when truth is rejected.  “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment” (Isa. 59:14-15).

Truth is like a young, beautiful actress coveted by every writer, director and producer early in her career.  However, as the years slipped by and the youthful allure faded, she was forgotten and left to fend for herself, forsaken by the very ones for whom she had made fortunes.  Today, truth is abandoned for convenience.  It is ridiculed and reviled.  It is forsaken, mocked and abused.

Modern Christianity resembles those Pharisees in the days of Jesus and John, chasing religious fads, but not really falling in love with the truth.  Love, true love, is not based on popular acceptance and conventional wisdom.  Think about that family heirloom, whose value is not based in the market price of precious metals, or even in its antiquity and historic significance, but is based on the fact that your grandma’s grandma once owned it.  The same item may not even sell for a quarter to a stranger at a yard sale, but is priceless in the hands of one who realizes and esteems its true value.

Jesus said, “I am the truth” and that one could only approach unto the Father through Him (John 14:6).  The word of God commands that we “buy the truth” and hold onto it for the remainder of our lives.  Oh, we must share it, as there is enough for all, but we are never to panic when the market value of the truth we have “purchased” plummets, and sell off what we have obtained and “cut our losses.”  The only loser is the one who walks away from the truth of God’s word.

Paul warns us of the fate of those who fail to fall in love with the truth in 2 Thessalonians 2:10.  “Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Many will fall prey to the lies and deception, but the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father is looking for such to worship him.  It is truth that will make us free from Satan’s lies in these last days, as the events in the world continue to point to Jesus’ soon return.

But let us seek the truth, fall in love with the truth, and walk in the truth all of our days, that we might be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.  He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.  The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.  My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever” (Psalm 145:18-21).