Removing the Buttons Part Four - Speaking Truth
Pinky swear.
Swear on your grandmother's grave.
No fingers crossed behind my back.
Hold up one hand and swear on the Bible.
What does it take to prove to someone that you're telling the truth?
When was the last time you told the truth and someone thought you were lying? When was the last time you lied and fooled someone into thinking you told the truth?
Jesus was pretty serious when it came to telling the truth. And, not surprisingly, He talked about it in His Sermon on the Mount:
"Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, don't take an oath at all...But let your word 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no' be 'no.' Anything more than this is from the evil one," (Matthew 5:33-34, 37, HCSB).
Evidently the first century Jews had something like the pinky swear: the oath. Seems like you were required to tell the truth if you took an oath, but maybe not so much if you didn't.
But Jesus didn't want His disciples to be known for their oaths; He wanted them to be known for their honesty.
He boiled it down to this: if it's yes, say yes. If it's no, say no.
Your words should always, always, always, always be totally honest.
"But what about if someone asks if an ugly dress is ugly? Or if their bed head hair looks bad? Or if I'm their best friend when I'm not?"
Ah, it's a slippery slope.
Because, you see, people all over the world are literally looking at dying if they speak the truth about Jesus. And they're willing to die for honesty. For faith. For Christ. Because He died for us. He did not lie when He knew it meant certain death. He chose honesty. FOR YOU.
So I'm sorry to seem blunt, but you tell her it's not your favorite dress, she needs to brush that hair, and you aren't best friends but maybe you can be some day.
YOU. ARE. HONEST. In all you say and do. Everything. Everywhere. Every time.
"But my mom will never let me out of the house if I tell her I'm meeting him." Then you stay in the house.
"But she'll never forgive me for what I did." Maybe not.
Honesty is, for the most part, how we naturally handle our conversations. But if it puts us in a bind, we're likely to freak out and revert back to a lie or a half-truth (which is still a lie) to cover our own backs.
This is a struggle for teenage girls.(And adult girls, for that matter.) For some, lying is a part of everyday life. They lie about where they go to their parents, what they do to their friends, they cheat on tests, they say things and then deny them.
And it's got to stop. Today. NOW.
Because you've taken up the call to be salt and light.
So go to your favorite Bible Study website and type in "mouth" or "speech" and find those verses that will keep you focused on this command.
Like maybe these:
"Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips," (Psalm 141:3). [Notice David is asking God to guard his mouth. Have you ever tried that? It's just crazy enough to work!]
"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry..." (James 1:19). [This goes with Part 2 of this series. Scroll down if you haven't read it yet!]
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer," (Psalm 19:14). [This gets serious. Not only is David asking that his words be pleasing to God, but also his heart! You can't fake this stuff with God! It's got to be genuine!] It goes along with "...out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks," (Matthew 12:34) spoken by none other than Jesus Christ.
Living with a pure mouth requires changing something about yourself: you must learn to think before you speak. (I know! I've been there! Sometimes words come out of your mouth that you swear did not come through your brain.) So when you find yourself in a heated or confrontational or even slightly awkward conversation, you let your brain take over. You wait before you speak. Sometimes you sit in silence, enduring the assault. And you don't say a word until you've passed it through this command: speak truth.
Brain before speech.
So to recap, here's what we have so far in the "Removing the Buttons" theme:
1. Be weird.
2. Forgive.
3. Bounce.
4. Speak Truth.
Nothing complicated here. Nothing hard to understand. But it requires everything to obey.
That's how Jesus is :)
Keep those subscriptions coming! Just put your email address in the top right box.
And I love hearing from you. Email me at myleslienotebook@gmail.com
Swear on your grandmother's grave.
No fingers crossed behind my back.
Hold up one hand and swear on the Bible.
What does it take to prove to someone that you're telling the truth?
When was the last time you told the truth and someone thought you were lying? When was the last time you lied and fooled someone into thinking you told the truth?
Jesus was pretty serious when it came to telling the truth. And, not surprisingly, He talked about it in His Sermon on the Mount:
"Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, don't take an oath at all...But let your word 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no' be 'no.' Anything more than this is from the evil one," (Matthew 5:33-34, 37, HCSB).
Evidently the first century Jews had something like the pinky swear: the oath. Seems like you were required to tell the truth if you took an oath, but maybe not so much if you didn't.
But Jesus didn't want His disciples to be known for their oaths; He wanted them to be known for their honesty.
He boiled it down to this: if it's yes, say yes. If it's no, say no.
Your words should always, always, always, always be totally honest.
"But what about if someone asks if an ugly dress is ugly? Or if their bed head hair looks bad? Or if I'm their best friend when I'm not?"
Ah, it's a slippery slope.
Because, you see, people all over the world are literally looking at dying if they speak the truth about Jesus. And they're willing to die for honesty. For faith. For Christ. Because He died for us. He did not lie when He knew it meant certain death. He chose honesty. FOR YOU.
So I'm sorry to seem blunt, but you tell her it's not your favorite dress, she needs to brush that hair, and you aren't best friends but maybe you can be some day.
YOU. ARE. HONEST. In all you say and do. Everything. Everywhere. Every time.
"But my mom will never let me out of the house if I tell her I'm meeting him." Then you stay in the house.
"But she'll never forgive me for what I did." Maybe not.
Honesty is, for the most part, how we naturally handle our conversations. But if it puts us in a bind, we're likely to freak out and revert back to a lie or a half-truth (which is still a lie) to cover our own backs.
This is a struggle for teenage girls.(And adult girls, for that matter.) For some, lying is a part of everyday life. They lie about where they go to their parents, what they do to their friends, they cheat on tests, they say things and then deny them.
And it's got to stop. Today. NOW.
Because you've taken up the call to be salt and light.
So go to your favorite Bible Study website and type in "mouth" or "speech" and find those verses that will keep you focused on this command.
Like maybe these:
"Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips," (Psalm 141:3). [Notice David is asking God to guard his mouth. Have you ever tried that? It's just crazy enough to work!]
"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry..." (James 1:19). [This goes with Part 2 of this series. Scroll down if you haven't read it yet!]
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer," (Psalm 19:14). [This gets serious. Not only is David asking that his words be pleasing to God, but also his heart! You can't fake this stuff with God! It's got to be genuine!] It goes along with "...out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks," (Matthew 12:34) spoken by none other than Jesus Christ.
Living with a pure mouth requires changing something about yourself: you must learn to think before you speak. (I know! I've been there! Sometimes words come out of your mouth that you swear did not come through your brain.) So when you find yourself in a heated or confrontational or even slightly awkward conversation, you let your brain take over. You wait before you speak. Sometimes you sit in silence, enduring the assault. And you don't say a word until you've passed it through this command: speak truth.
Brain before speech.
So to recap, here's what we have so far in the "Removing the Buttons" theme:
1. Be weird.
2. Forgive.
3. Bounce.
4. Speak Truth.
Nothing complicated here. Nothing hard to understand. But it requires everything to obey.
That's how Jesus is :)
Keep those subscriptions coming! Just put your email address in the top right box.
And I love hearing from you. Email me at myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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