Category: Bible

God’s Honest Truth

There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a LYING tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a FALSE witness who pours out LIES, a person who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19

This week a post I read on Facebook prompted me to think how many people are dishonest. I’ve known people who tell what they call “little white lies” as if their dishonesty is minimized in their mind, because they think being dishonest a little isn’t harmful. But a lie, is a LIE, IS A LIE! I’m not shouting at you, I just want people to see that there is no such thing as being a “little” lie or being a “little” dishonest. I know one person who told me that they had to lie to certain people because they were protecting them. My response was ‘protecting them from what?!’ Lying Never protects anyone, because you are introducing sin into a relationship, no matter who it is you’re trying to protect. That relationship is doomed, whether it is a friend or a family member. When did God put you in charge of protecting others from the truth? Actually, that particular person was manipulating a situation, because they didn’t want the other person to know what they were doing. If you feel the need to hide how you control your affairs, perhaps there are other areas that you are not being honest about. They were also trying to control the response of the other person. I’ve known parents who will lie to their kids because they have a preconceived idea of how the child will react if they know the truth. It only opened up a larger dilemma in that they had allowed their child to control the situation based on that child’s previous bad behavior. It was definitely an unhealthy situation, based on lies by both parties. One was lying based on poor behavior and the other was lying in an attempt to modify that behavior. No relationship can endure based on lies, because it dispels trust, which is integral for longevity in relationships.

Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed. Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace! Proverbs 12:19-20 

Some annoying prefaces to a conversation are: “I’ll be honest with you …”; “Let me shoot straight now.”; (Like they weren’t any other time?) “To be perfectly honest…”; “God’s honest truth…”; “No lie…”; “I swear I’m telling the truth!”; “Regardless of anything else I’ve said before…” There are many others also, but when you hear this, be on guard! If a person has to persuade you that they are being honest by putting extended conditions on their statement(s), it shows their integrity or lack thereof. I thought honesty was free from deceit, not conditional.

photo by Alamy
photo by Alamy

The dictionary definitions of the word ‘honest’ are as follows:

Honest: 1. honorable in principles, intentions, and actions; upright and fair. 2. showing uprightness and fairness. 3. gained or obtained fairly. 4. sincere; frank. 5. genuine or unadulterated. 6. respectable; having a good reputation. 7. truthful or creditable.

If you look up the word “honest” in the thesaurus, the main definition is ‘truthful & candid.’ Some synonyms are: authentic, reliable, undisguised, on the up and up, genuine, virtuous, and trustworthy. To take it a step further, I looked up the word “honesty” (the act of being honest) in the thesaurus and the word that stood out to me was integrity! The definition of integrity is: ‘the state of being whole’ which leads me to what lying is… ‘incomplete.’ We are not complete in God, if we are dishonest. We can Never be complete in God, if we cannot be truthful.

An honest witness does not lie; a false witness breathes lies. Proverbs 14:5

Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says, “I was only joking.” Proverbs 26:18-19

What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! Isaiah 5:18

What bothers me most is when people drag God into their dishonesty, by using his name in the phrases I mentioned above. If you cannot stand on your own integrity, leave God out of it! Why should you use his name to verify what apparently has been deceit in the past? Learn to be truthful, forthright, and honest and there will be no need to preface your statements.

For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44

Lying is based on sin and following Satan, just as Adam and Eve did in the garden… they entered into sin and deceit. No one can ever measure up to the law, it only points us to the perfect sacrifice, which is Jesus. Jesus IS Truth, the opposite of deceit. You don’t have to measure up to be saved, Jesus defeated all sin on the cross and in resurrection. I am not saying that you can live in sin, but once you accept Jesus and follow him by the Holy Spirit, you have no desire to live in the bondage of lying and sin. Sin is the suppression of the Truth!

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness…They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. Romans 1:18&25

Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Colossians 3:9

But you have received the Holy Spirit and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. 1 John 2:27

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me…I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. John 14:6&12

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24 

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. John 14:16-17

Jesus IS Truth and when we follow him in spirit and truth, we represent that truth, lying is not a part of us and that is… the God’s Honest Truth!

Whose Hands are Holding your Life?

Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last. Luke 23:46 NLT

As Jesus hung on the cross, he spoke to his Father and told him that he was committing his life (his spirit) into his hands, he was placing his trust in the Father to take care of him. He was making that final statement that he trusted him to keep the promise that even in death, his life was not over. As I thought about this, I thought how many times we put our life in the hands of others… and many times ill-placed. Every day we have to trust other people to do what’s right. We also must forgive them when they don’t do what is best for us.

We put our lives and the lives of the ones we love in the hands of teachers and professors. We trust what they are teaching us is factual. I won’t go into how much false information has been given in education, that could be an entirely different blog… or how vulnerable our children are… We put our lives in the hands of other drivers when we get in our cars, when we drive in traffic, or as a passenger, or especially when we ride on public transportation. We put our lives in the hands of chefs or anyone who prepares our food when we eat in restaurants. We put our lives in the hands of our government by the laws that are passed and the people who run it. While some of these may seem fairly innocuous, one of the riskiest is how we put our lives in the hands of doctors and nurses by allowing them to treat us for illnesses or by having surgeries. This is probably one of the ways we give up the most control of what happens to us in our life; but I’m speaking of dally life. Our ultimate decision in giving up control and the most important one is allowing God to have control of our life. Truly committing our life to him and putting our life in his hands, so that he may direct it in the way that is best for us.

Prayer: Father, into your hands, I commit my life. Help me forgive others when they put themselves first. Help me to put others before myself. Show me your ways, so that I am following the correct path. Thank you for your mercy and help me to show mercy to others. Through Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Christian (with Alter Ego)

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. — Galatians 5:24-25 NLT

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I find that many ‘Christians’ live antithetical lives in many facets of their lives. They live one way at work, one way with their buddies, another way with their families or at home, and still have another personality to take to church. What an exhausting life they must lead keeping all of these alter-egos intact! How can you say that you are saved and believe in Jesus Christ and live like the world lives? Of course, we then could argue whether these self-proclaimed ‘Christians’ have truly experienced a life-changing salvation or true repentance. But we all see it, the co-worker that behaves pristinely at work and goes home and gives their family hell. Or those who go out boozing and partying during the week but turn up to church stone-cold sober. Then there are the ones who watch shows (Uh-oh, I’m gonna step on toes here…) full of debauchery, satanic fantasy, murder, and hatred towards their friends & family. I’m speaking of the shows full of illicit sex, adultery, vampires, zombies, and horror. How can anyone who is truly sold out to God watch them? How can darkness co-mingle with light? How do they not have nightmares? … Actually, some have confessed to me that they do. Then they expect God’s peace? Christ said he would give us peace. If he left us the Holy Spirit, our comforter, our peace, aren’t we negating it by viewing these shows? The Bible says if we belong to Christ we have nailed our passions and desires to the cross, but if we are consuming garbage, aren’t we nailing Christ back to the Cross? I probably lost a few of you at this point, but for those who are brave enough to read on, the Bible puts it in plain text:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom. Galatians 5:19-21 The Message

You may be asking, “how is it possible to know the ways of God or to do what is right?” We cannot do it of our own will. Sure there are people in this world who are ‘godly’ who live nearly unblemished lives by the world’s standards. But there is nobody that is perfect and there is nobody who can know God’s ways without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The only way we can live a truly Christ-centered life is to submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives daily. It is a choice but the more we make that choice, it becomes a habit. It becomes our new nature. Christ said the Holy Spirit would lead us in truth. It is not sin-consciousness, but God-cognizance that will lead us into living a holier life. When we are not focused on the sins , but instead are focused on God, we have no desire to follow after sin. To know God more and better is to become more like Jesus and the example he set for us.

He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. John 14:17 NLT

He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:4-6 NLT (my emphases)