Spitting and Lying.
I'm not so sure why the spitting was so upsetting--I won't address that today--we're going to talk about lying.
Lying, or deceit, is the absolute opposite of truth.
Most of us probably wouldn't consider ourselves habitual liars. But, perhaps we lie more than we think we do.
What do we say to someone who is going through a hard time? Let's use, for example, someone who is single and longs to be married. In an effort to encourage or help, we might say something like,
"You'll find the perfect person one day, just you wait. God has someone awesome in store."
Or, maybe someone is unemployed,
"Don't worry. God has just the job for you; you'll get it."
Are these statements true? We might be trying to help, but in our effort to encourage, we are building up false hope, in essence deceiving another, which can lead to great disappointment, most likely directed toward God.
Scripture is full of commands about lying,
"Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit"
Psalm 34:13
"Do not lie to one another..."
Colossians 3:9
These are just two of them, but I'd like to focus on the one in Colossians. We are commanded not to lie to one another. The opposite would be to speak truth to one another.
In our pursuit of having a truth driven heart, we should be making every effort to speak truth to one another.
Paul goes on in Colossians to say,
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
Colossians 3:16
As we allow God's Word {the truth} to dwell in us, we will be able to speak to one another in the way that God would have us speak.
Jesus said,
"The good person out of the good treasure in his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
Luke 6:45
I long for my heart to be driven by truth, and if it is, if I truly treasure the truth in my heart, then my speech will reflect that.
Let's stop lying to one another.
Let's encourage one another with God's truth, knowing that it is in Him and His Word that we find our hope.
For a list of other posts in this series go here.
Hmm this is something my husband and I were just debating recently. I told him I need him to encourage me, even when he might not know if everything is going to be okay. But he refuses to say statements like the ones you listed because to him they're lying. However, those are exactly the things I need to hear at the time when I'm struggling. So what do you propose people say in situations like that, if they aren't supposed to lie?
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that Paul tells us as husbands to do for our wives is to speak the word to them. It has a cleansing effect. He should not tell you that God will do such and such because he does not know that God will do that particular thing. What he can say in all truthfulness is that "My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19" and "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. Rom 8:28"
DeleteI haven't said it til now, but I have LOVED all that you've shared this month. I appreciate how biblical your comments and observations are. Sometimes we make up our own beliefs apart from the Word, and that just doesn't work. I hope you'll keep sharing what God is teaching you through the Word.
ReplyDelete