so this started as part of the psalm 12 post…but it’s super long so i split it…the beginning is probably just rambling, but there is a devotional (not by me) at the end that i think is worth taking a look at …
point 2…which is really one that i’m going to try not to go off about is in verse 2-4. everyone lies to their neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. may the Lord cut off every boastful tongue that says, “we will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips– who is our master?”
first…our words are painful. our tongues must be tamed. if we fear the Lord then we will allow Him to change the way we use our words through the power of the Holy Spirit. pardon me if i’m super blunt here but if we claim to be followers of Christ, yet our words don’t reflect Him then we need to hit our knees and beg for Him to take control of our mouths. if the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside of us we can not go unchanged…and if our words are not being changed we need to watch out. james 3 is all about taming our tongues. check it out…it’s not even that hard, all you hafta do is click on the link. biblegateway is amazing. james 3 is HARSH. it’s one of those chapters that you read and you’re like…wow…you can’t misunderstand it unless you are really trying to. it says that the tongue is like a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. it corrupts the WHOLE person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. …it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ouch…we must learn to allow the Spirit of the Lord to control our tongues…and it may be a hard thing to do but if we resist it, we are accommodating sin…which causes us to be separated from God.
my real soapbox here though is WHY WE LIE?!?!?!?! i don’t get it. not that i think we should all go around telling each other that we smell, or look ugly today, or made a really bad parenting decision yesterday. but what get’s me is straight up lying. if you don’t like someones outfit…just don’t say anything. somehow we feel like we’re obligated to say something nice about each and every person that we have any interaction with everyday. sometimes i just don’t have nice things to say to people…it’s not that i have bad things to say, sometimes i just have nothing to say…(not that it’s good…or right…but it’s true) we spend time in absolutely meaningless conversation and waste precious time that could be spent actually caring and getting to know someone. what i hate even more is that when we lie we are creating false impressions about ourselves and others. seriously, like when a teenager lies to their parents about what they’re doing that night, they might as well be calling their parents fools or idiots right to their face. and that’s bad…but really i think the worst is when we lie to “protect ourselves”. we lie about our feelings…about our needs…desires…who we are. we pretend that words haven’t hurt our feelings, but since we’ve never spoken the truth to that person about how we’ve felt then deep down the relationship with that person begins to break down. we will lie about how we feel about people too. especially where our hearts are at risk. we won’t tell people that we really love them or care about them because once we’ve said it…our heart has been set in the middle of the field for everyone to see. lying is horrible. there are tons of proverbs about it…read them…hit up your concordance or some biblegateway for that. yea, yea there is the good/bad, angel/devil side of that but really, i think that God has told us not to lie because He wants us to be like Him…and He can not lie. satan on the other hand is the Father of Lies (john 8:44). God knows how lies can hurt and harm us, and like the Good Father that He is, He wants the best for us. He wants to protect us from things that harm us…and i’m sure that none of us have to look very far to find a lie that has caused us some pain. so why do we lie? why can’t we just be truthful to the people we care about? why can’t we share joys, pains, hurts, fears, hopes, dreams, feelings with people that we say we love? because sharing those things is what allows true love to be born (not like cinderella they lived happily ever after love…real agape love…God’s love)
true relationship is experienced inside the sometimes painful, risky arena of truth. i was on a trip the last few weeks and a friend had sent me a letter with the following devotional enclosed. it’s by rick warren and i really hope i’m not breaking any copyright laws or anything by posting it here…
i hope as you read it you are encouraged because you can think of a few people in your life that you truly share this relationship with. maybe it’s just beginning to be this honest and real…or maybe it has been for a long time…but either way i think these relationships are rare…and to be cherished. i know i’m very thankful for the ones in my life.
“But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:7-8 NCV).
In Biblical fellowship, we should experience authenticity.
Authentic friendships are more than superficial, surface-level chit-chat. They involve genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level, sharing.
These friendships develop when we get honest about who we are and what is happening in our lives. They develop when we share our hurts, reveal our feelings, confess our failures, disclose our doubts, admit our fears, acknowledge our weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.
Unfortunately, this level of authenticity and intimacy is the exact opposite of what we find in many churches. Instead of an atmosphere of honesty and humility, we often become involved in pretending, role-playing, politicking, superficial politeness, and shallow conversation. We begin to wear masks, keep our guard up, and act as if everything is rosy in our lives. These attitudes are the death of real friendship.
It’s only as we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. The Bible says, “If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other . . . If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves” (1 John 1:7–8 NCV).
The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. We tend to use darkness to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in God’s light, we can bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.
Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again.
Why would anyone take such a risk?
Because it’s the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” (James 5:16 MSG).
what if we had true, real relationships with people…based on who we are…the good, the bad, and the ugly. i think those are the ones that God desires with us too. look at peter for example…he was a screwup too!!! but Jesus still built His church through him. He loved peter in spite of anything bad in him. He loves us that way too (thankfully…whew!!) and we should desire to love and be loved that way by others.
thanks for taking time to follow me as i seek the person of God. He challenges me through His word daily and it’s a blessing to be able to share those challenges with you.
seeking His heart 