command 9 | lying

We are addicted to lying:

“I’m almost there”

“I like your hair”

“That makes sense”

“I’m fine”

“We’re good”

Our most dominant lie is often not telling the truth about ourselves.

We “filter” our IG’s, we “filter” our words, we “filter” our lives.

Contemporary poet, Chris Rock, once said, “Whenever someone first meets you, they are not meeting you. They are meeting your representative.”

Most of us will not admit wrongdoing without hundreds of justifications and excuses, and end up painting the picture that we, too, are the victims of our actions.

Few of us quickly admit wrongdoing.

Gospel People, the people of repentance, admit the fruit, but do the dirty work of pulling the root.

Why do we lie so much? The FRUIT

Fear of rejection and abandonment! The ROOT

The sin, under the sin, under the sin? HUMAN APPROVAL

We most often add filters, over-edit our profiles, exaggerate only the good stuff, turn vices into virtues, because we are desperate and have legit needs to be liked and approved.

We lie because we believe that if we tell the truth about ourselves and others, we will be rejected.

The truth is, we are already infinitely liked, approved, and accepted by the God of the Universe, who will never abandon us.

There is a reason “Fear Not” is the promise most repeated in your Bible.

Lying makes life heavy and hard. Everything after the lie is complicated by consequences and the energy it takes to navigate the relationship or situation that is now erected on a false truth.

Living out the truth that you are infinitely and eternally accepted, loved, and liked by the only voice that matters, that is FREEDOM

William Wallace type FREEDOM!

Andy emerging on the other side of the wall from the sewer pipe in Shawshank type FREEDOM!

The Gospel announces the deepest love and most profound approval we need, we already have, in Jesus.

And make no mistake, God sees everything about you.

When we confess sin, we are not informing God but agreeing with Him.

When we get more honest with ourselves and others and move toward vulnerability, life gets more and more liberating.

People pleasing is a cruel and crippling set of chains. Like all idols, it is relentless and unsatiating. It takes and takes and takes and takes.

Jesus gives.

I like to be affirmed, even need to be affirmed, as do you.

I’ll take the morsals I get from humans BUT feast on the banquet table God has already provided for me. It’s a spread. Read Rev 19 and 20. Best of meats, finest of wins. You and I will never “out dinner party” God.

Dive deeper and more regularly in the truths of the Gospel and you’ll gradually start to shed your need for human approval.

You will start to lose your filters and the illusions we are addicted to.

You will start to lose your representative.

It is better to be you, than your representative.

God, your spouse, your kids, and your friends want you, not your representative.

Representative LOVE each other. They feed each others’ smoke and mirrors. Until they eat each other. Representatives are fierce competitors. Competing is why they got in the game.

Your representative is brutal on you, though. His left hook is PRIDE (when you are good for at least 10 minutes or better than most), and his upper cut is SHAME (when the real you pokes its head). He jabs you with FEAR.

What if churches and Christians were known for being a safe place to land when the broken people break down and when the fallen people fall down?

Are the Christians around you the first or last people you think of if asked, “Who would you turn to when the worst of you is exposed?”

Why are so many Christians blowing it when it comes to handling sin, mistakes, and brokenness?

Sin, mistakes, and brokenness are our only common denominator.

Why does so much more life change happen in dark, dingy church basements at AA meetings than in our church “Life Groups” and “Circles”?

I think we know why.

Those who have the least fear of telling the truth about themselves know at their deepest levels how unconditionally loved they are by God.

When shame collides with truth and unconditional love, transformation begins to happen.

We are at the exact same time, worse than we could ever imagine, and more loved, liked, and accepted than we could possibly know.

Grindforth!...as a redeemed, truth teller.