Witness part 5
Let's end this Rant series with... not a warning, per se, but kind of the flip side of the coin we've been looking at. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour" (Exodus 20:16). And if I'm not mistaken, that's one of the Ten Commandments. Don't be lying on people. Let me say it this way, "Trust, when it is broken, is almost impossible to put back together." And that, I believe, is from the Bearenstain Bears. When you're not being honest with people, or about people, that's such a big problem. It's not ok. Dishonesty is not ok. Especially when you consider that Jesus is the truth. So if you're rolling with Jesus, if I can put it that way, how can also justify bearing false witness? If you're full of the truth, how can you even get to a place where you're spewing lies? Let me say it another way: "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another" (Ephesians 4:25). And that, to me, really says it. We're all in this together. We shouldn't be trying to take anybody down. Attacking anybody. Lying on anybody. It just shouldn't happen. CAN'T happen, if you're full of the truth. How could it? God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. God is the truth and there is no lying (or false witness) in Him at all. God is the truth. God is love. Love is the truth. If you love people, you will have no reason to lie on them. No reason to try to make yourself look better by making other people look worse. Because--one more time--we're all in this together. The tide raises all ships. When we work together, we succeed together. When we edify each other, look after each other, support each other, that's when we all share what we have witnessed. That's when what's inside of us--what is TRULY inside of us, not what the world tries to convince us is inside of us--comes out. Naturally. Simply by knowing and believing that it's in there. By witnessing who God is and what He has done for us (2000 years ago on an old rugged cross), and then by BEING a witness to what we have experienced in Him. It's the exact opposite of what a lot of people do. A lot of people think they have to protect that experience by keeping it to themselves. By hoarding it. By making sure it doesn't "get away." To the point of lying in order to keep what they've got, or get what they want. That's no way to live. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected. They are the same thing. And if love is the truth, then you can only live by telling the truth. By sharing the gift you've been given. By letting what's inside (what's really in there... love) come out. By knowing the truth... and TELLING the truth. Witnessing God (love) and being a witness to, and of, God (love). Telling the truth in love by telling the truth about love. Sowing into people instead of lying about people. Looking for what's right with people instead of looking for what's wrong with them. There's nothing in this world that bothers me more than dishonesty. Because you can't trust someone who lies. You just can't. But if you stand on the Rock that is Jesus--the foundation of truth--you will not be shaken. People will be able to trust you. They will know that you won't do anything to hurt them... because the truth is... you love them!