A key proverb in the New Testament is: Let God be true, & every man a liar.
First, some definitions: There is one God. The word for man includes men and women, young and old. True implies completely trustworthy; liar means not 100% truthful.
This is perhaps one of the most difficult truths to grasp. We are told as children to always tell the truth. Honorable parents discipline their children when they tell lies. And then comes the day when we tell a lie and get away with it. Then there comes the day we realize everyone tells partial truths, half truths, and outright fabrications … even when they are trying to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
It seems the only way we can really trust someone is if they are willing to die for what they believe and insist upon.
Most people are a little shy of death. Death is not our friend. We have defeated the fear of death when we tell the truth and worry not one bit about what people will do to us if we tell the truth.
The difference between a wise truth teller and a foolish truth teller is that a foolish one will tell you everything they know to be true. A wise person has a filter. The wise purify their speech. When we say everything that comes to mind that has factual value, people will not value their time listening to us.
If however, we listen to others and prove that God listens even better by praying with that person then the person with whom we converse will be free to listen to the truths that we share. When God gets into the conversation, He is able to speak life. If we are merely speaking from our own hearts, we are liable to deceive ourselves and our hearers and be led astray. But God is love and He is able to teach us to love.
So what if someone says they love us? We can receive this love as a gift from God or as a gift primarily from the other person. If we look primarily to the other person for love, we are sure to be disappointed, for their love is finite and limited. If we look to the Lord for love, our face will brighten, for He is able to love us even when we are completely unlovable. He will also enable us to love others, even when they disappointment.
People are not always friendly. Sometimes they can be outright hostile. An enemy can even be found in our own best earthly friends, even our spouses and parents and children. Why? Why is it that close family and friends can sometimes be so hard to get along well with, and why sometimes those we trust most disappoint us most?
Is it not because we are called not to trust others nearly in the same way we are called to trust God? Our trust towards God should be 100% and perfect. In fact, human trust in God is limited most of the time. Our trust is made complete in our dying. Even Jesus’ trust was perfected when he breathed out His last, “Into Your hands I commit my Spirit!” The Lord brought perfect peace by dying in perfect peace.
His trust was vindicated by when Jesus rose from the dead 3 days later as He had prophesied and communicating His message once again to his students and urging them to wait for the Promise.
God kept His promise and gave the Promised Holy Spirit. The only way we are able to keep our word is by abiding in the Holy Spirit. If a person is truly seeking out ultimate reality, they will have to conclude that for there to be any meaning there must be a God who raises the dead and judges our lives, rewarding us for what we have done. This God is trustworthy, He alone is the One called Truth, and all He speaks is true. He has come into the world and has spoken to us not only of His law, but has shone forth His light and given us life that we might walk in love together, thus we find liberty, which the law is intended to describe.
If a person rejects the law of God, they will end up rejecting God’s purpose for their lives and tending towards death and purposelessness. Yes, they may prosper greatly, but they live only for a few dozen years and then they vanish and perish.
If a person receives the law as a token of God’s love, they will shine forth the light to the nations. The love which they received will be shared freely and God’s kingdom will advance. Such a person will find their purpose perseveres into eternity.
The person who builds his life on God as True will be founded on Truth and will help others find truth. Such a person confesses freely that they are not the epitome of truth, but Jesus is, the King of the Jews who came from Nazareth.
The person who builds his own life will be proven to be a lie in the end and will have shaky, unreliable foundations. Violence is their means of accomplishing their will. Lust is the only way they know love. Deceit is their default communication, all of which is corrupt. They delight in sin and dark is their light. Doom is their destiny. Less is their hope.
Oh, the delight of those who seek peace and pursue it! Blessed are all who know the truth and do it!!
“Lord, help me speak the truth and let me also always love all. Rob me of my fear and clothe me with your faith and boldness that I might rest within your peace at all times.”
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