Week 18 “Speak Truth to One Another”
Day 2
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Ephesians 4:21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Reflect:
To speak truthfully to one another is to honor Jesus with authentic speech. Falsehood can take direct forms like an outright lie. But more subtly, untruth can come in the form of flattery, which is telling people what they want to hear for your own personal benefit. It can come as exaggeration, where you willingly inflate the facts to make your position more compelling. It can be intended deception, where you allow people to believe something you know is not true without correcting them because you are proud, or ashamed, or insecure. Or maybe you just hold back relevant and important things because of fear or pettiness. We must avoid all these forms of falsehood in our speech. Speaking truthfully to each other goes way beyond falsehood to being appropriately honest with who we are. It doesn’t mean we always tell all that we could tell, but it does mean that what we do tell others is in accordance with the truth that “is in Jesus”. It is authentic speech, true to the facts as best we know them, out of respect for the Lord Jesus, who is the “truth.” We must be “truth tellers,” not in the sense that we are quick to correct others, but in the sense that we are always on guard against words that are less than accurate and authentic. It does not mean our words are going to always be perfect. Oftentimes, we don’t know which words to choose and even when we don’t mean to, we can say things that are wrong. This is more about a heart direction than words of perfection. The direction of our heart must be oriented towards God-honoring love for others. When our heart’s desire is that our words benefit those who hear them, then over time, our words will become increasingly in-line with the truth that is in Jesus. Our words will encourage others to move in his direction.
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.