October 10 - Truth or Falsehood?
Truth and falsehood are diametrically opposed to each other. Truth is part of reality while falsehood is something unreal. God’s Word of truth created the heaven and the earth while the devil’s words of lies can destroy humankind, sending them to hell. Speaking God’s Words can cause nothing to become something while speaking the words of lies can turn something into nothing. The truth builds while falsehood destroys. What come out of our mouths can become the conduits of God’s creative acts or the devil’s destructive schemes.
Prophets are supposed to be God’s mouthpieces and they are to speak forth the Word of God to the people. Only when they have heard from the Lord and sent from Him that their words become the truth. Lying prophets are those who have neither been called nor spoken to by God. What they prophesy is not truth but falsehood, offering peace to the people when there is no peace. Their lies give people false hopes, lying visions and worthless divination with the deceit of their own minds. They are to be punished and judged by famine and sword.
The true Word of God is like food to Jeremiah, he found God’s Words and he ate them. The Word became to him a joy and the delight of his heart. Truth is like food to the body and joy to the soul, it points to the reality based on God. It is not like a deceitful brook or waters that fail. There is no empty promise there but God’s truth delivers. The Lord told Jeremiah that he would be restored and stood before Him. If he uttered what is precious and not what is worthless, he would be as His mouth and speak His Words to the people. Every time when Jeremiah spoke, things would happen for he was speaking the Word of God, the truth.
We are to build up one another with our words, not to tear down one another with our lies. If everyone in the community of faith begins to speak truth to one another instead of lies or falsehood, the lives of the believers can be built up. The Word of Christ, if absent in our conversations, emptiness and void can set in. Many so-called “fellowship” groups do not have true fellowship but repeating of what others in the world are saying. We exchange tips about car buying and investing instead of using God’s truth to admonish each other.
Sometimes our conversations are built around imaginations, projections, exaggerations that are not real. We lie to impress others and our words are not based on truth. Many tell stories that are not true to slander one another. We have neglected the power use of the words, giving the devil a place within our churches. Before you utter your next words, ask God to cleanse your mind and from all falsehood. Speak only the truth and see God’s creative power in operation, changing lives instead of destroying them.
Ps 113:1-9 Jer 14:11-16:15 1 Thess 2:10-3:13 Prov 25:1-5