Everybody Lies.
Have you heard of the book, Everybody Lies? It delves into the concept that we all lie in some fashion and in various ways. What?!? Me?? Us?!?! Apparently this happens even without our immediate recognition. It happens when someone asks our view of an issue and the response we give doesn’t match our actions. A consumer might say that they oppose the idea of a sweatshop yet the products that they buy at a local convenience store have been connected with such industries. Here’s a quote from the book: “Netflix learned a similar lesson early on in its life cycle: don’t trust what people tell you; trust what they do.” ― Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
In our Values series, we are putting forward this concept of Honest Faith Journeys. If the above-listed book is true, even in part, we might have some serious wading to do through the marshes of our own thoughts in order to come down to an honest approach to faith.
How does this play out? Well, in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) one of the strongest examples of not being completely honest comes in the person of Peter, one of Jesus’ righthand men. Peter claimed that he would NEVER desert Jesus, even if he had to die for his faith. Yet we all know how that turned out. Several hours later, Peter did exactly what he said he would never do.
Am I really any different than Peter? I want to believe I am.
An honest faith journey means that we are exposed to the truth about ourselves and our ability to slant things, even slightly, for our benefit.
I’m excited, I think, about diving into this topic for this weekend. Ok, honestly, I probably am not completely excited about it…but I do see in Scriptures that this is something we are to work at, pursue, and even uncover about ourselves. The Bible calls it, in 1 John 1, coming into the light. We let the stellar example of Jesus stand as the perfect image of how we should live; he is the Light to shine on our darkness and expose it. If we are willing to see him as he is, and see ourselves, we will quickly notice that things are not all rosy and sweet in our disposition. We also have the Word of God that seeks to uncover motives and attitudes that lie deep below the surface of our personalities (Hebrews 4:12-13). The apostle John then (in 1 John 1) encourages us to not be afraid of what is uncovered in this search, because when we see the honest truth about who we are, we also have a complete erasing of all the dirt and lies and slanted attitudes that are uncovered.
So let’s strive to see the honest truth. Let’s drive toward more honest faith journeys—being willing to share that our motives don’t always align with what God prescribes—but also recognize that each tainted intention has been cleaned and washed stain-free in the blood of an innocent and honest Jesus.
Blessings on your week,
Pastor Al