By David ReayMonday 8 Feb 2016LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Ephesians 4:25
25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. (THE MESSAGE)
There can be no authentic community or significant relationship without truthfulness. When we can’t trust another’s words, when we are intent on misleading one another, relationships collapse and community suffers. We become like phantoms to one another, hiding behind screens of make-believe and even deceit.
When I set out to mislead someone I wound both them and myself. Somehow I become less real to them and them to me. I may find myself weaving a web of deceit which ends up trapping me as well as them.
And yet truthfulness does not demand total openness. Not all people have a right to my ‘truth’. Truthfulness is not the same as telling everyone everything that is going on in my life. That would scarcely be helpful in many instances. Discretion is not deceit, and the difference usually lies in the motivation involved, in the state of our heart.
We need much help from the Spirit of God to discern when to reveal what is going on in our life and when to keep it to ourselves. And more discernment is needed in determining who to tell and who not to tell. In all such cases we are guided not just by our own interests but the interests of the relationships we have. Truthfulness is not at all merely a personal issue.
Blessings
David Reay