We do not always use the most accurate and complete information to define what is real and true. Some worldviews are formed with limited information or biased data to create faulty opinions. We need to investigate why we believe something before we declare it absolute and immutable. 

When I was a kid, I enjoyed watching a TV police show called Dragnet. The show followed the lives of two LAPD detectives as they investigated crimes. When a witness was straying off topic in an interview, the lead Detective, Joe Friday, was famous for uttering the line, “Just the facts, ma’am.”

Last week, Jan was going through some boxes of our personal memorabilia and came across my old desk nameplate when I worked as a detective. Jan chuckled and said we should put the nameplate in a prominent place in our home as a reminder of the nature of my calling. When I held the nameplate old memories of my years behind the badge began to flood my mind. As a kid, perhaps it was the influence of TV shows Dragnet or the kind city cop in Los Gatos, California who always stopped to say hi to the Elkins boys who were playing ball in the street that influenced my decision to eventually become a cop. 

Being a detective taught me a lot about life. It helped me see that the real facts, the truth of a matter, can be buried beneath layers of misinformation and assumptions. The same is true for how we interpret Scripture or see the Church. The truth exists somewhere buried beneath what we assume is true but needs some spiritual detective work to be uncovered.

Each weekly episode of Dragnet began with the famous line “Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.” If we share God’s word or speak to someone in God’s name, could we say the same thing? – “Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true.”

Discovering the truth is only possible if we have investigated our most closely held assumptions to discover the original intent of God on a matter. Those truths are many times hidden beneath layers of what we were told to believe without a deeper personal investigation. A life of faith requires that each of us become a spiritual detective. A spiritual detective will stick with the facts under the leading of the Spirit and not allow anyone or anything to take over the investigation and hijack its conclusion.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future” (John 16:13).