Jesus Is Truth

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

We’re tinkering in the True Girl Truth Lab. 

In the first episode of this season, we learned that laboratories help us discover and protect facts. We’ve been studying the facts about lies—where they come from, what gives them power. And this week we’ll learn how to get free from them, because believing lies can make us feel trapped!

Thankfully, there’s one thing more powerful than lies. Today you’ll find out what that is in case you ever feel trapped by a lie. 

Okay, before we head into the True Girl Truth Lab today, let me remind you that last week we got a letter from Zoey. She believed the lie that she needed social media to be connected to her friends. But her parents had told her “no.” I couldn’t even believe she went behind their backs to get on social media anyway! Well, that wasn’t as much fun as she thought it would be. She felt trapped by the secret. 

Today, we’ll get an update from Zoey and put her new letter through the lie detector machine. 

This season of True Girl is based on the best-selling book for tween girls, Lies Girls Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free. Let’s join Dannah Gresh with her lab assistant, Staci Rudolph for Season 8, Episode 3, titled “Jesus Is Truth.”

Dannah Gresh: Okay, just as I thought. Wait. If I put this here . . . bingo! Yes!

Staci Rudolph: Every time I come in here, you’re tinkering with that lie detection machine. 

Dannah: I know, I know, but what can I say? I love when our True Girls experience freedom from the lies they’re believing. So, I gotta make sure this thing is in tip top shape! They sent out a new update, and I just wanted to get it installed today. 

Staci: Oh yeah? What does it do now that it didn’t before? 

Dannah: You’ll have to wait and see next time we get a letter, which I hope won’t be for a while. I love this thing but I know using it means someone’s confused and likely believing a lie.

Staci: Well, I’ve got good news and bad news for you then. Which one do ya want first?

Dannah: Hit me with the bad news.

Staci: We got another letter from Zoey about that lie she’d been believing.

Dannah: Oh, that is sad news. I guess you’ll get to see what new things this detector can do sooner than we thought. Well, you said you had good news too, so what is it, Staci?

Staci: I’m diggin’ your outfit today. Who knew you could bedazzle a lab coat?!

Dannah: Thanks, Staci. I thought these hot pink rhinestones would snazz it up! 

So, what does Zoey’s letter say? This thing is fired up and ready to go!

Staci: Okay, let me read it.

I’m the worst person on the planet, and I feel sooo lonely. My parents took my tablet away. I probably won’t be allowed on social media until I’m like twenty! I’m freaking out! I’m pretty sure my parents will never trust me again. I feel so distant from my mom. And I’m so embarrassed that I don’t want to go to school tomorrow. My friends are going to ask, “Why aren’t you online?” Tomorrow is going to be the worst day ever. ~Zoey

Dannah: Aw, Zoey, I’m so sorry you’re feeling that way. I know exactly what it’s like to feel worse than other people because of my sin.

Staci: Me, too! I know what it’s like to be embarrassed by your punishment. You’re not alone. I’ve had my phone taken a time or two by my parents and had to face my friends the next day.

I don’t know about you, Dannah, but I’ve tried a lot of things to make me feel better when I sin, or when I get caught. Things like hiding at home or avoiding people. But that doesn’t fix the way I feel inside. The only thing that has ever truly helped me is God’s truth. So, let’s get serious about understanding it.

Dannah: Well, hold on Staci. Are we going to get to running Staci’s letter through this machine? 

Staci: Don’t worry, don’t worry, we’ll use it. I just want to give a solid explanation of truth first. Then we’ll identify Zoey’s lie and help her out.

Okay, so here’s an important definition for truth: an agreement with a standard or original.

[whisper] Dannah, quick, ask me what a standard or original is.

Dannah: Hey, Staci! What’s a standard or original?

Staci: I’m glad you asked!

Determining a standard or original for some things is really easy. For example, if you and some friends look at the same field, no one says the color of the grass is purple. This is because we’ve all learned the standard or original for identifying colors: the color wheel. And we know that the color of most healthy and watered grass is green. People agree that this is true, because we have a standard that we use to identify color. 

Dannah: That’s easy peasy!

Staci: I know, right? But let’s be honest, the color wheel is easy to accept as a standard. What we often find hard is understanding the standard that helps us figure out the truth about ourselves and our behaviors. 

Dannah: Very true. Maybe you’ve experienced that, True Girl. Your feelings can get a bit confusing and make you ask some of these questions like:

A disagreement with your mom or dad may have you ask, “Is it true that my parents just don’t and never will ‘get me’?”

Discomfort could make you wonder, “Is it true that it’s weird to talk to my mom about boys?”

Fear could make you wonder, “Is it true that getting my period is going to be awful?”

You need a standard or original to help you decide what is true about these and other hard questions that your feelings bring up. So, let me point the way!

Jesus is truth!

Staci: Say it louder for the people in the back

Dannah: Jesus is truth!

Staci: Not literally, Dannah. But you’re right! Jesus is the standard and original source of what is true about us and about how we should act. Let’s check out John 14:6. It says:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” 

Did you hear what Jesus said? He is the definition of truth. He determines what is true about us and what is right and wrong in the way we act. If you ask Him, He will reveal the truth to you. He does this mostly through the written Word of God—the Bible! In fact, “the Word” is actually one of Jesus’ names.

In the Bible you’ll find words that describe who you are and how you should act.

Dannah: Absolutely. Hey, is this a good time to swing back around to the lie detection machine? I can’t wait to use it so you can see the change.

Okay, so just to review. Zoey is feeling trapped by a lot of “sticky” feelings, and it seems she started believing lies about herself after she disobeyed her parents. Let’s use this machine to find the lie she’s been believing and put truth to the test. 

Staci: Alright, let’s do it! I’m excited to see what the new update did, too!

Dannah: You should be. It’s gonna be pretty sweet. Hand me her letter.

Here it goes.

Staci: [Shouting] That update sure didn’t make it any quieter!

Dannah: You’re right!

Staci: It’s almost time.

Dannah: Well, did you see it? Did you see it? Did you see the change from the update, Staci?

Staci: Uhhh, no.

Dannah: The bulb! You didn’t notice? It’s purple now instead of red! I changed the bulb.

Staci: Ahhhh, major change . . . I don’t even know how I missed that one. 

Dannah: Do I detect sarcasm in your voice?

Staci: No, no, it’s great. 

Dannah: Alright, okay. I think the purple bulb is so cute.

Let me look at the results here. Oh, we’ve got a big fat lie. Two actually.

Staci: Yeah? What are they?

Dannah: We kind of discovered them earlier. 

Lie #1: I’m the worst person on the planet! (She actually kind of says that in her letter.) 

Lie #2: I’m so embarrassed. Tomorrow is going to be the worst day ever.

Staci: Ah, yeah, we’ve got to hit those with some major truth!

Dannah: Agreed! We know where our standard of truth comes from now—the Word of God! The report has given us some key verses to knock these lies out. So, the truth for the first lie comes from Romans 3:23. It tells us that all of us sin. It says:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

See, no one is perfect. And did you catch the familiar word in that verse? “Standard.” God is the standard of truth. Listen, you’re not alone in falling short of God’s standard. And it is not true that you are the worst person on the planet, Zoey. You’re just like everyone else. I wish you hadn’t downloaded that app, but believing another lie is not going to make you feel any better. You’re not the worst person on the planet. We’re all in the same boat. We all sin.

Staci: Exactly! It’s kind of like a snowball effect, too. When we keep piling on lies about ourselves because we feel so bad about something we’ve done, it never turns out good. We end up buried in those lies and sticky feelings with the snow ball getting bigger and bigger as it rolls.

Dannah:  Exactamundo! 

Staci: Okay, can I knock out lie #2?

Dannah: Go for it, girl.

Staci: Okay, so lie #2 is, “I’m so embarrassed. Tomorrow is going to be the worst day ever.” Matthew 6:34 takes care of that one. Jesus, the Word Himself, tells us:

So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Zoey, you have to let God take care of tomorrow. We all do! Why don’t you take time to pray and ask Him to take care of the day? It’s true that you have to face your friends and tell them you lost your tablet, but the best thing to do is to trust God with what will happen.

Dannah: Good truth, Staci! I have to remember that each day, too, because we naturally want to try and control our day. But the best thing we can do is pray and let God take the reins. He sees everything that's going to happen in our lives each day, and He’s going to prepare us to handle any and every situation.

So, now that we’ve replaced those lies with the truth, Zoey, you should begin to feel better. You’ll actually begin to feel free. That’s exactly what the truth does. John 8:32 says, “the truth will set you free.”

So, just as there are bad consequences to believing lies, there are also good results when we believe truth. And the main result is freedom.

Staci: So good! Thank God for His freedom. Now Zoey, it’s going to take some time to get your tablet back and earn your parents’ trust, but hopefully you’re already feeling less trapped. That’s how truth works.

Dannah: Hey Staci, do you remember a specific situation where the truth of God’s Word set you free? 

Staci: Absolutely! I had a social studies class once where most of the kids were pretty rowdy. They’d be laughing, joking, passing notes, and just too disruptive for the teacher to even teach. For a while, I wouldn’t join them in acting all crazy because I knew it wasn’t right. But eventually, little by little, I started to go to their side because I wanted to fit in. I wanted to seem cool and act like I didn’t care about being good.

Dannah: Oh, boy!

Staci: I know, right. That went on for a while, and I started getting in more and more trouble. Eventually, my mom even came and sat right next to me in class because I was acting so bad. 

Dannah: What?! Really?

Staci: Yes, really! How embarrassing, right?

After she sat in class with me that day though, she talked to me about a verse in the Bible. Galatians 1:10 says:

Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

Dannah: Wow!

Staci: Yep! When she shared that verse with me and we talked through it, I knew I needed to be more focused on pleasing God than those kids in my class. If I claimed to know Jesus and follow Him, which I did, then He was the one whose approval I had to be after, not theirs! 

Dannah: Amen!

Staci: And if I’m honest, it was scary to have to go against them and the things that they were doing, but it felt so much better to know I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I felt freedom from their control and expectations. 

Dannah: And that’s what freedom looks like, my friend. We experience it when we use God’s Word to respond to our problems.

And here’s where I should tell you what gives power to the lie detector test: it’s basically just a ginormous computerized version of the Bible.

Staci: For real!

When we put the letters in there, the machine is comparing and contrasting it to every Bible verse we have. But, True Girl, you don’t need our lie detector machine. You just need your Bible and Jesus to experience the freedom that truth brings!

Dannah: True Girl, I use my lie detector—my Bible—every single morning. I open my Bible, and I read it. When I do, it’s kind of like putting my feelings and temptations through the True Girl Truth Lab machine. I discover lies I’m believing.

Staci: And the truth that will set you free!

Dannah: Yes! I hope you read your Bible every day. I started when I was eight years old! But if you’re not there yet, I hope you have a mom who reads it every day—one like Staci’s!

Staci: But I hope she never has to come sit next to you in class like mine did!

Dannah: I can’t believe she did that. 

Staci: Me either. 

Claire: Hey True Girl, if you want to spend more time in your Bible, it might help if you do it with someone, maybe your mom or a friend. That way you can talk about it together. Also, the book Lies Girls Believe and the True That Sets Them Free will get you searching your Bible. It has lots of verses to read and to look up. 

Lies Girls Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free is available at MyTrueGirl.com. You can also get tickets to the live True Girl event, that’s also about Lies Girls Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free. I hope you’ll visit MyTrueGirl.com to find out more. 

Now, let’s be real: have you ever been the only girl not invited to a special party? Yeah. I think we’ve all been there. Well, on the next episode of the True Girl podcast, Dannah and Staci get a letter from a girl who’s feeling left out. You’ll have to listen to see how the lie detector machine helps with that.

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

All Scripture is taken from the NLT.

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