Are you living a Lie?
This time we will explore a concept that often been often over looked, and this is found in Exodus 20:16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Now we often frame this in words/concepts, (that have a Legal and Courtroom situation) but how about looking at it in our daily conversation? Gossip is often the embellished and flavouring of words set to present a certain situation in a very unique and specific light, and also spiced up or embellished to encourage this tale to be spread very widely and very quickly, and of course, to the detriment of the person that is the subject of the gossip.
Add to this 2 Peter 3:11 “[Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness.” In language we get the “Holy Conversation” portion, which is from old English, for your employment or business dealings, now all tied in with our speech and demeanour or behaviour. This concept is pretty much about a package deal on one consistent way of living and doing things in every situation, being reliable and predictable. Do you and I have a “One Speak” and are consistent, or are we “forked tongued” as it were, and this has the connotation of the Garden of Eden and a certain deceiving snake, which adapted a situation to make wrong look good and so beneficial, but poor Eve fell for it.
A double speak or multiple speak; of adaptation to every situation and not being straight up and down, one becomes unreliable in any situation. We call this being consistently unreliable. We love to work with and to have business dealings with people who you can count on to keep their word and to actually do things in an honest and professional manner and in a proactive time frame; but how often do we change our tune as it were? We have this admonition in Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
In our relationship with God, our total relationship with him is anchored on the principle of God not changing, and this is brought out in Malachi 3:6a “For I [am] the LORD, I change not.” If God was somehow changeable, we would never be able to keep up with what was flavour of the month, what was acceptable behaviour and worship, and when what we had been doing in our past as right is now actually totally wrong, and what we refrained from as wrong, is now totally right. As the verse plays out this concept of God as being reliable; we would be consumed if God was changeable as we would always be sinners, always wrong, as the ever changing rules meant that there was no safe and solid ground to make a stand on as things are consistently inconsistent. What a blessing we have that God is reliably consistent, so now as Christians who claim to be modelling God, so why are we as changeable as the weather, wind or tide?
Should we not be living a model life that perfectly reflects our Saviour, Jesus Christ, should not what we do, say and think, be reflected in the words of the Bible, which should be our guide book? Is the problem stemmed from the world squeezing in and somehow God getting squeezed out? Do we all not need a priority shift and to put God First, Last and best in Everything? Should we not have a vibrant “Prayer Life;” and first thing every morning, and then continue it all through the day? What happened to our Bible, when was the last time we even opened it to read a chapter or two, or even a book? When was the last time we even got into an in depth study to check out the latest concept that floated through the Church? Was it true to scripture or was it a mirage, with a form of godliness but denied the power?
Let us each resolve to no more living a lie, but to be the real deal, the genuine article, a soldier of the cross, and always on duty, in season and out of season. Quote: “The Corinthian believers, once so prone to lose sight of their high calling in Christ, had developed strength of Christian character. Their words and acts revealed the transforming power of the grace of God, and they were now a strong force for good in that centre of heathenism and superstition. In the society of his beloved companions and these faithful converts the apostle’s (Paul’s) worn and troubled spirit found rest. {AA 372}
Quote: “In the second letter addressed by Peter to those who had obtained “like precious faith” with himself, the apostle sets forth the divine plan for the development of Christian character. He writes: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” {AA 529}
Quote: “None need fail of attaining, in his sphere, to perfection of Christian character. By the sacrifice of Christ, provision has been made for the believer to receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. God calls upon us to reach the standard of perfection and places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Saviour showed that through co-operation with Divinity, human beings may in this life attain to perfection of character. This is God’s assurance to us that we, too, may obtain complete victory.” {AA 531}
Dear Reader; Please let us each resolve to “Walk the Walk” and to “Talk the Talk.” Israel of old failed to correctly represent their God, let each of us not live a Lie and to let the Team Down, let us resolve to just live Jesus Christ 24/7.
