Truth Is Your Truest Friend

If you Google “least trusted profession” you will find politician either number one or two, at times second only to a used car salesman. I would like to defend the few used car salesmen I know; they are honest men and I trust them.

What is it about these two professions that make the public mistrust them? Honesty, or the lack thereof.

With a used car salesperson, you could almost, almost, understand their dishonesty; they’re trying to make a living. But a politician will almost always lie because he or she is trying to stay in power.

Truth has become a cheap commodity in American society. In fact, it costs nothing if you lie, in fact, you can call it a mistruth to make it more palatable to the public. The politician didn’t lie; he spoke a mistruth. And America swallows it whole, hook, line, and sinker.

Why?

Because we lie to ourselves. Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote “The cruelest lies are often told in silence,” meaning when we lie to ourselves. Richard Bach, author of “Jonathan Living Seagull”, once wrote “The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves.” Lies, spoken and unspoken, are the chains of bondage that keep us from the liberty Christ promises:

    “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’” (John 8:31-36)

Living in the aletheia truth of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most liberating life man or woman can live. There is no better way. Living in the aletheia truth of the Lord Jesus Christ is a guilt-free life. Abraham Lincoln once wrote:

    I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact is truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances are.

We are a sinful people in need of repentance and restoration through the blood of Christ. Read today Romans 7 and if Paul would have left off the last verse, we would be without hope. But our dear apostle gives us verse 25:

    “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25a)

Christ is our Liberator. I’ve said this many, many times, but the G-O-P will not save America, only G-O-D can do that and only after His church returns to Him. I love what Samuel Langdon, the President of Harvard University during the American Revolution, said in his address before the provincial congress of Massachusetts:

    We have rebelled against God. We have lost the true spirit of Christianity, though we retain the outward profession and form of it…By many, the Gospel is corrupted into a superficial system of moral philosophy, little better than ancient Platonism…My brethren, let us repent and implore the divine mercy. Let us amend our ways and our doings, reform everything that has been provoking the Most High, and thus endeavor to obtain the gracious interpositions of providence for our deliverance…May the Lord hear us in this day of trouble…We will rejoice in His salvation, and in the name of God, we will set up our banners!

Would to God pastors across America speak such words from their pulpits! Would to God on Sunday, July 3rd, the day before Independence Day, pastors across America call for a national, no, not day of prayer, but for a national repentance, individually first, then communally, then—providentially—nationally.

And repentance all begins with recognizing the truth. The truth of my sinfulness, the truth of my wickedness, the truth of my covetousness, the truth of my lust, the truth of my deceitfulness.

May we embrace the truth, the aletheia truth, a truthfulness that corresponds to reality, a liberating truth found only in the life of Jesus Christ. A truth learned only through the reading of God’s Holy Word and the convicting of the Holy Spirit.

Would to God the American Church for once in over a century actually get serious about repentance.

Let it begin with me Lord, start with me.

May you have a blessed weekend and please remember to go to church on Sunday. No better place to be on the Lord’s day!

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2011 David Jeffers

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