Title: Taking a Truth Enema, It's Freeing
Taking a Truth Enema - It’s Freeing. Why is leading see-through lives so difficult? Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.” Sometimes to be freed requires taking a big ole truth enema. We resist that. But sometimes, we get so jammed up with inner deceit that extreme measures are necessary. When are extreme measures necessary, when we find our lives without much peace. When we’re anxious much of the time and when our relationships with those we love most are increasingly on the rocks. I personally find that I tend to marginalize my own deceit. I tend to categorize it as little white lies that are non-threatening to everyone. But when I read the words of Jesus, in the book of John, along with 1st and 2nd John, I find that those of us who really want to please God should practice telling the truth - all the time. Keep in mind that truth is a person and He accepts us warts and all so we don’t have to marginalize the truth. If we do, we minimize our need for Him and our need for His forgiveness and cleansing. Ever notice how we are often comfortable with our lack of truthfulness, but we are quite uncomfortable with its consequences. We go, “Ouch!” when we have to pay the consequences from our lies, sometimes even what we consider little innocuous white lies. So why do we so often not tell the truth? It is often to protect our pride. We fear being shamed or embarrassed. David Gushee says, “Our fragile reputations and even more fragile egos must be protected at all costs. And so pitifully, we sell out the truth.” Gushee says, “Sometimes we lie because we have already done wrong. We have slipped into the darkness rather that remaining in the light and we don’t want our deeds to be exposed. So, our lies cover up our sins, but they often only delay and worsen the day of their exposure. Sometimes we justify lies to accommodate some urgent goal. This happens everyday in politics and business. We have grown accustomed to that. But sometimes it happens in church life as well. We want to win by any means necessary. Or perhaps we deceive by holding back the whole truth, so when my spouse asks, did you view porn today or did you lie about the money matter I asked you about? We might say, “No, I did not.” Our statement might be technically true, but we know we used pornography the night before . We know we didn’t lie about the money matter in question but we held back the truth about another money matter. These rationalizations are hair-splitting deceits and really don’t hold water. That’s not living see-through lives which is the greatest witness for Christ. Longing for the truth, loving in the truth and walking in the truth (John, 1st John and 2nd John). This is why we should regularly be taking a truth enema by confessing our deceit to a trusted fellow believer. Then God’s spirit can enable us to be in the process of living see-through lives so that those around us can see a little bit of God’s compassion and splendor in us. Gary Chester hosts MenWhoWin.com podcasts and radio shows. He is the author/narrator of audio books and a small group Bible study.