Honestly, Now!

Not too long ago -- while leading a Bible class discussion on God’s wondrous work of renewal -- one of the passages I had listed was in Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae. Two verses we noted are as follows:

“(9) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices (10) and have put on THE NEW SELF, which is being renewed in knowledge after THE IMAGE OF ITS CREATOR.” ( Colossians 3:9-10 ESV)

Though verse ten was what I wanted to center on for our discussion, verse nine was included for the sake of context and to keep from beginning the reading mid-sentence. What an encouraging focus Paul noted regarding renewal back toward the image of our Creator! However, one of the sisters in the congregation was struck by the first part of the reading and asked, “Were there liars in the church there?” My response was that there must have apparently been a problem with a lack of TRUTHFULNESS since Paul addressed it, reminding his readers that lying was a part of the old self and its practices which they were to have put off when they were united in Christ. Untruthfulness does not fit with “life being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

Unfortunately even today not everyone in the church is as they ought to be. Let us be HONEST about the reality none of us is perfect. The perfecting process in Christ is an ongoing thing. However, that does not excuse us. We still need to be watchful for the things in our life that are completely out of character with our Christian walk. It is bad enough when one tells a lie to mask themselves, but when the lie is told about another in order to justify self (or for some other reason) it is even worse because the reputation of a brother or sister is being destroyed in the process.

When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, he stated…
“(25) Therefore, HAVING PUT AWAY FALSEHOOD, let each one of you SPEAK THE TRUTH with his neighbor, for WE ARE MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER.” ( Ephesians 4:25)

Remember yesterday we noted the idea of being “members one of another” and what that sense of belonging should mean. Falsehood and lying cause division and destroy that one-anotherness. It is TRUTH that properly directs our life along the right path. It is TRUTH that unites us together and solidifies our relationships. This is the way of love because love rejoices with the TRUTH. ( 1 Corinthians 13:6)

Given that Jesus is TRUTH ( John 14:6), and since we as Christians live in Him and He in us (read John 15:4-5; Romans 8:10; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:6-7; 1 John 2:6), would that not imply TRUTH is to be characteristic of our life as well? We can’t be in Him and walk in a different direction at the same time! May such godly character be evident in all areas of our life.

Have a great day STRIVING FOR UPRIGHTNESS IN ALL THINGS!
Carl

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