When I was a little girl, I remember looking out my parents’ bedroom window at a bright star in the sky and prayed, “please God, help me tell the truth.” I remember this prayer, as I was quite the imaginative girl, who liked to exaggerate the truth and make up stories that sounded better in her mind than a reality. I had a way of starting in truth and manipulating it somehow until I got so deep in it, I didn’t know how to get out. Even at a young age, I knew the truth was important, and I knew I needed God’s help to walk in it.
Now as an adult woman, I still find myself not always living in complete honesty, but in different ways. I felt the Lord nudging me to go deeper into this thought and understand the importance of honesty. I know I can stretch the truth or even tell people I am doing fine, even though I may be struggling inside. The problem with our habitual half-truths when it comes to our relationship with God and others, is that it leads to us being dishonest about who we are, what we are feeling, and what we need. “God, I am a nobody, I’m fine, and I don’t need anything…” Obadiah 1:3 reminds us, “the pride of your heart has deceived you.” If we cannot come to God in complete honesty, then we let the pride of our heart and our dishonest ways detract us from close relationship with Him. He knows everything anyway, but if we cannot be honest with Him, we miss out on the healing truth that He reflects back to us about who and whose we are. When we are honest, our character is strengthened, we are people of integrity, and we understand our true, God-given identity, without leaving room to believe lies that are told to us and lies we’ve said. Honesty brings a holy humbleness, peace and understanding to know that God and others can trust us.
There is another deception that effects Christians the most, that is not one that comes from our own lips, but one that is meditated and believed upon that comes from a small, but powerful whisper from the Father of Lies, the devil. A few years ago, I was leading a mom’s group at our church. I felt the Lord prompt me to talk about the lies of the enemy on a particular Monday. I gave all the moms a small, white piece of paper and told them to write down a lie from the enemy that they believe every day. The cards remained anonymous, as I gathered them all back in. I remember reading the first card, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I grabbed the garbage can, crinkled the paper up, threw it away, while saying, “that’s a lie!” Then another card read and another, “I’m not good enough for my husband.” “My kids hate me and think I am a horrible mother.” “I am overweight and worthless to society.” “I will never be forgiven.” “Lie! Lie! Lie!” After the last card was crinkled and thrown into the garbage, not one of us had a dry eye, we were shocked at what we all believed to be true, that was completely false, yet held so much weight. We prayed and God did amazing things that day, but our eyes were open to the normalcy of deception and dishonesty that surrounds us and that we were all walking in false-truths.
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:31-32).
God wants to set us free from untruths of who we believe we are and what we believe to be truth. We must start with repentance of our own false-truths and let His Word guide us and teach us to live a life of truthfulness and understanding. Let us stop engaging in deception, as there is enough of that all around us. Let us not just know the truth, but apply it to our everyday lives. Let us be one who walks in truth, talks in truth, and speaks to Jesus about our truths. Because, “who the Son set’s free is free indeed”(John 8:36). Stand in your identity as sons and daughters of the Most-High God. God has created you in His image, and He is crazy about you. In all honesty, our truth and knowing the truth is what truly set’s us free.
Emily Rodewald 