"The Elder, to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy and peace will be with you from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in the truth, as we received commandment from the Father." - 2nd John 1-4
The above, from 2nd John, in brief covers that which he covered in 1 John, and indeed the words of Christ the beloved apostle recorded: The importance of living and believing the truth.
As Christians, we serve a God of truth, who is Himself Truth personified. Nothing of Him is false - not His words, not His actions. As He is truth, so he expects us to walk in truth - "as obedient children, not conforming to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written 'Be holy, for I am holy.'" (1st Peter 1: 14-16).
The catch is, I am mostly not a person of truth.
Why are we not people of truth? Not just speaking the truth (which is itself difficult enough), but embodying the truth of Christ and His gospel? The world often derides and ignores us, not because our message is not clear, but because we do not do the very things we say that our God commands others to - in a very real sense, we give lie to the "truth" that we claim not only to believe, but base our eternal hope on.
This creates a problem: we, living behind half lies and half truths, give lie to the claims we have about a God who has the only Truth - roughly equivalent to the salesperson who uses a competitors' product. We proclaim that which, by our lives, we apparently do not believe is enough to base our lives on.
What would it look like if we lived truly to the convictions we have in Christ? Would our lives change only a little bit - or, with me, would there be such a change in my life that people would say I'm a different person?
What if Christianity was known for the truth of its adherents - both in word (to the point where if a Christian gave their word, no other guarantee would be necessary) and in deed (that when people read the Bible and the commands of God, they would see no difference between the commanded lives in Scripture and our lives)?
Why are we not people of Truth?
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