God is the Designer

In John 8:44, we learn that Satan is the father of lies, that lies are his native language. Jesus, on the other hand, is the truth. When we speak lies—in whatever form they may come—we speak the language of the enemy. It was a lie that brought Adam and Eve to sin and caused separation between God and his people. And it’s been lies, ever since, that have kept humanity in an endless cycle of sin. So, it’s not that it’s bad to lie—it goes much deeper than surface-level morality. Manipulation, gossip, exaggeration, slander, breaking promises, white lies—all of these are forms of lies spoken in the enemy’s native language. Every one of us falls into some sort of falsehood more often than we could admit.  We say things like, “I’ll be there soon,” when you know that “soon” means another 15 minutes past the 30 minutes you are already late. We say, “I didn’t know,” when we really knew but feel bad that we forgot. We talk badly about someone else. Most of the time, when we lie, we are trying to make ourselves look good or control the way people see us. Falsehood creates cracks and divisions among the people of God when we should be the most united group of people on this earth. The minute we decide to entertain a little bit of falsehood is the minute we create another crack in the Body of Christ. So, when Paul calls us to put off falsehood, he is calling us to step into our identity as children of God and speak the language of our Father instead of our enemy. Reflection/Discussion Question: What form of lying do you find yourself speaking most often?

When lust captures us in the dark, we buy into lies that keep us in the dark: “You’ll lose everything if someone finds out.” “What are people going to think if they know?” “No one wants to know those details about your life.” “If you tell someone, it will end. You don’t want it to end.” It feels inescapable, so we do everything we can to cover it up in order to avoid coming clean. There is no freedom in the darkness. When we live in the darkness, sin has the power and control. But God has given us a community of believers to hold us accountable. It can be scary and uncomfortable to ask friends to hold us accountable, but the more we get into the habit of holding one another accountable, the more it becomes normal in our friendships. We tend to believe the lie that we would come off judgmental, annoying, or arrogant, but we have to remind ourselves that to hold a friend accountable is one of the most loving things we can do.  When we hold each other accountable, we aren’t waiting for “gotcha” moments where we can lay on the guilt and shame. Instead, we have a chance to remind one another of the goodness of God and the wealth of his grace. We remind our friends that we have the chance to restore one another and have the kind of deep fellowship we were created for. Reflection/Discussion Question: How can you start implementing accountability into your community?

There is a young lady I work with that is on the fence about believing. She struggles with anxiety as a result of her home life. As I was talking to her about God and Jesus, not wanting to push to much I let her know that God loves her and wants her to be at peace and would love for her to get to know more about him.

Giving and receiving support is so essential in our lives. Just reminded a friend how much God loves us and that we are chosen. It makes a difference when someone else reminds you of that love.