1 John 2:21 --- I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
A few weeks back I met with a brother in Christ and he said something that has really stuck with me. He told of a situation it would've been easy to lie, but God spoke to him and said, "I'm not in a lie.". That really superglued itself inside my brain and it was right there as the Lord, and I got to today's verse.
Back on March 6 I was in 1 John 1:5 and it says, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.". Which in my mind is a huge statement. It feels very big and weighty. The sun blazing in the sky above has no darkness in it, it's the sun! In today's verse I heard the same thing but it brings it down in a much more focused way, "No lie is of the truth".
I know the bigger context of this verse is John making clear to Christians they have the truth of the Gospel already. They have the scriptures. They have been warned about false teachers (antichrists). There were lots of gnostic people running around in these days saying you needed some secret knowledge, or secret truth and John is sobering up the Christian church to be aware and recognize they have what they need in Christ Jesus and they know that they know Him by all the things that came before this verse.
Now dialing into where the Lord led me today is back to my brother's statement, which lines up exactly with God's own word, "no lie is of the truth". I think we're safe to say, "God is not in or of a lie.". Okay so maybe you're thinking:
"Phillip, why does this matter? We know a lie isn't of truth or in truth, that's why it's a lie!"
That statement is exactly why the Lord and I discussed this today. My human brain read this and started to logically ask, "Why is it important to say a lie is not of the truth? Of course it's not because a lie is a lie and if a lie was of the truth, then it would be a lie." Logically it makes sense. Lie is lie. Truth is truth. Lie of/in truth makes it a lie. Done…
Well, not quite done because it goes deeper with God. It goes back to my brother's statement. It would be easy to lie…but God's not in a lie. You see it's not just that lies, and truth don’t mix, it's the fact that God himself is perfect light, perfect holiness and He cannot and will not ever be in or of something of darkness and nothing of darkness can be in Him…
…BUT how many times do we justify lying? How easy is it to tell a tiny little lie? How easy is it to "stretch the truth"? How easy is it to tell half the truth?
God's not in any of those. He can't be in any of those because a lie is a lie, and it cannot be of the truth. If it cannot be of the truth, then it cannot be of God. This really dove me into conversation with the Lord over the implications of this in my life and any Christian's life.
This isn't about now I must go and tell every person what I "REALLY" think about them… OR if the door greeter at church asks how you're doing that you start into a thirty-minute speech of every single thing going on in your life. NO!! It's not an excuse to be rude, ugly, air out dirty laundry or unnecessarily burden your local church door greeter in that moment.
So, how do I interact with the door greeter when having a bad day then? How do I truthfully tell someone something without hurting their feelings?
Simply seek the Lord in it. Put Him first. Throw your understanding out the window and acknowledge Him who knows all, then ask for His direction in how to speak truth in His love and how to respond to door greeter when you're having the worst week ever and they ask, how are you.
The past few weeks I've been much more intentional in thinking before speaking. Also, very intentional in my prayers and thoughts leading up to meeting with someone, or going somewhere, like Church. Because I know God isn't in or of a lie that comes out of my mouth. He won't honor or support that lie because He is not in it and it's not in Him. I don't want things coming from me that God isn't in. So, I seek Him first in all areas, all things, every day. Not perfectly of course, but it gets easier the more I do it.
Now we're human, things slip, we mess up, we blurt out a lie to brother John when he invites you to his 6:00 AM bible study on Saturday… "Oh sorry brother John, I think my wife has something planned already...". It'll happen and praise God we already know we have Jesus as our advocate! Now don't keep doing it though! :)
I want to pray over this right now: "Lord guide our words and our actions as we go about our lives. At home, at work, at church and even Walmart. Help us speak Your love and Your truth. Let us be real and honest so all may see Jesus and not just us. Help us respond to others truthfully, in love and may You be in the words we speak to others. Guide us how to reply, how to tell hard things to someone without stretching truth, without leaving things out. Always in Your love. We ask for You to be in all we do and say today. Help us focus on You first, then to take You with us to love others and lift them up. Thank you for Your love and above all for Jesus. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!
I promise if you start seeking the Lord before you meet with someone, go to church, go to work, things will start to change and the next time brother John approaches, you will be thinking about the Lord and not yourself.
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