Thursday the 29th

Ephesians 4: ²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry

 

This is a tough one for me, it is something I struggle with daily. Speak truthfully to my neighbor. I know I am not alone in this struggle, because many people do it to me daily as well. I am not talking about out right lying, I am talking about the little falsehoods, the little “white” lies if you will. They are not spoken out of anger or malice, these lies tend to be spoken out of love…..misguided….but out of love none the less. The scripture sums it up we are members of one body, would you tell your hand that it’s nails look great when you and your hand know good and well they need to be trimmed? Would you tell your feet that they do not stink, when in fact they do? This is really what the scripture is drilling down on, real, honest, loving truthfulness. We are all bound by the blood of Christ, as a result we must be honest, you don’t have to be hurtful, just honest. Therein lies the problem, a lot of times the truth hurts. We have advanced to a place in society where to speak the truth is not wanted if it might inflict pain. Even if that pain might be exactly what is needed to cause the needed change. I think of Christ when it comes to issues like this. Chris never embellished, flattered, or glossed over the truth. He just put it out there. He told people that hey yeah, you are a sinner, you need to look at how you are living, you need to make a change in your life, so that you might live forever with me. Here is the key though, it is something that Christ was so good at (big surprise) and where we often fail. Christ always loved, He always encouraged, and He always offered forgiveness. We find it much easier to just shine it up a little bit. We say things like it’s not that bad, or there are worse things you could do, we are very good at rationalizing others actions so that we can fit it in to the OK section of life. We do no one, ourselves, or God any favors when we approach our relationships that way. As Christians we need the truth, we depend on the truth, and we crave the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It might be painful to hear, it will be painful to say, but if we really do love and care for the person, it is the only acceptable response. It is no surprise that the next verse is do not let the sun go down on you while you are angry. Guess what? We start handing out the truth, and there will be hurt feelings, and hurt feelings tend to bring about anger. When that happens what is needed? More truth! When your hand goes to sleep do you whisper, and coax it awake? NO! you shake it, you move it around, you get the blood going as quickly as you can…the truth is you need your hand back, and you can’t wait around for it, your hand is important to your every day life. That is how important we are to each other. This is the model for a real conversation, this is the way to communicate with each other. There will be no need for anger, if we are honest on both ends of our conversation.  If we are to operate like one body, full communication is needed. Think of playing any sport. Your head is in constant communication with your body, and to be good at any sport your body has to be working together in unison. There is no glossing over the truth, the foot can’t keep dragging if the body is to walk without a limp, and the foot will not correct the problem is the body keeps telling it that it will be ok to continue. There is a world of communication going on with your body just to walk down the street. This is why the image of us being one body is so powerful. There is no room for dishonesty or falsehood, or white lies. No matter the intention, the body cannot function without the full truth. So speak plainly, speak honestly, and when spoken to honestly, don’t be angry, don’t seek to hurt. Speak as Christ spoke, honestly, directly, full of forgiveness, full of love, and most importantly with full honesty.

 

God Bless,

Brian