Smoke and Mirrors

Smoke and mirrors

Living with a liar is hard.  Reason means nothing, lost in a tangled words. Liars will not acknowledge the truth of those who try to talk with them about the desperate state in to which they have descended.  They love the lie. Loving a liar is like trying to hug a column of smoke. There’s just nothing there.  Suspicion dogs every interaction, making a deep connection impossible. When someone hides from the truth the depth of darkness deepens and they are sucked into the mire of their sins. 

The Scripture explains the tragedy of sin and depravity with this straight-forward indictment. "God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them." (Romans 1:18-19, NLT)  "They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen." (Romans 1:25, NLT)   The Word says that God declares His existence in the beauty of His Creation, in the intricacy of the natural world.  Nobody can say, “but I did not know the truth.”  God makes it plain to all of us- in what He does, by the work of the Spirit who actively moves among us, and fully through His Son, Jesus, who shows us fully Who God is.

He sent the One who is “the Way, the Truth, the Life.” He shines the bright Light into the dark places and invites us to know the truth which will “set us free.”   The greatest lie is this:  “I am my own god.”  From the dawn of Creation, the father of lies, has sung this seductive song.  “You can choose your own way, live on your own terms, without suffering any consequence,” he whispers.  Eve fell for it. Adam joined her.  And, we all, do until we are rescued by the Truth.

Christian, let’s commit to living in the truth, radically!  From the smallest place of deception, terrible things creep into our lives. But, when we live in the light of Truth, we flourish in the blessing of God.  I love this passage’s promise.  God invites us to face the truth, the ugly truth about who we are and what we have done. "If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus." (1 John 1:8-2:1, The Message)  At the core of that passage is confession.  “IF we admit our sin,” is a translation from the original Greek of the New Testament – homologeo.  The literal meaning is ‘to say the same word.’  God invites us to say the same thing about ourselves that He says.

That is two-sided.  Yes, on one side we admit to our sins, face up to our depravity without excuse. That’s the hard part of the truth. On the other side we accept what He says about our worth in His sight, about His amazing grace, the ocean deep love for us that is found in Him.  The result is freedom.  There is nothing left to hide.  We can live confidently in who we are, knowing we are loved by our Father completely; which draws us to transparency in our lives, which lets us live joyfully.

Are you living in the Truth?

____________

He Set Me Free

Once like a bird in prison I dwelt,

No freedom from my sorrow I felt!

But Jesus came and listened to me,

And glory to God He set me free.

Now I am climbing higher each day,

Darkness of night has drifted away.

My feet are planted on higher ground,

And glory to God I'm homeward bound.

Good-bye to sin and things that confound,

Naught of the world shall turn me around.

Daily I'm working I'm praying, too.

And glory to God I'm going thru.

He set me free!

Yes, He set me free!

He broke the bonds of prison for me.

I'm glory bound, my Jesus, to see.

For glory to God He set me free!

Albert E. Brumley

© 1939. Renewed 1967 Stamps - Baxter Music (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc., 741 Cool Springs Blvd., Franklin TN 37067)

CCLI License # 810055