Turn and Face the Truth
Countless times in the Bible we are told to return to the Lord. Turn again to Him. Turn once more to Him.
Let’s picture this turning from the Lord in our minds…
The Lord, bright and holy, His face shining as the sun at noonday, is before us. His loving, passionate, yearning gaze captures our hearts and attention. He desires us more than anything and wants to consume our hearts with His never-ending love. Truth Himself is the object of our gaze.
But suddenly something causes us to stop facing Him. Sin, selfishness, and death creep in, so we turn our backs to the one and true living God. Instead of having pure Light before us, we stare into darkness. The bleak hopelessness of what now lies before us makes our hearts grow dim, skews our perception.
At the same time God’s heart aches for us to turn back, to face Him and see the face of Truth. He yearns for us to know reality and the way things really are.
Some have responded to this cry in the Lord’s heart, but some are remaining in the lifeless darkness.
Jesus Christ, the hope of glory, may You save us all!
I believe that there is infinite freedom in facing the truth. The saying goes that the truth hurts. It is a time when we acknowledge and consent that this is the way things really are. We might not like to see it or admit it but we must agree.
Joy becomes more pervasive of our lives when the facts are laid bare. No cover-up, no hiding. They are in plain sight. We begin to accept things. Maybe change will result. The important thing is that we see things the way they really are.
“Our fallen thinking processes automatically justify our actions and rationalize our thoughts. Without the Holy Spirit, we are nearly defenseless against our own innate tendencies toward self-deception.
“Therefore, if we would be holy, we must first renounce falsehood. In the light of God’s grace, having been justified by faith and washed by the sacrificial blood of Jesus, we need not pretend to be righteous. We need only to become truthful.
“No condemnation awaits our honesty of heart—no punishment. We have only to repent and confess our sins to have them forgiven and cleansed; if we will love the truth we shall be delivered from sin and self-deception. Indeed, we need to know two things and two things only: the heart of God in Christ and our own hearts in Christ’s light.”
Francis Frangipane, Holiness, Truth and the Presence of God
In the same way God’s Truth (His Word) shines the light in our hearts as to expose the darkness that lies within us. It does us no good to deny, cover-up, or make excuses for those things. That prevents the Light from penetrating our beings and doing the work it was sent to do. What we must do is simply confess, ask for forgiveness, and then receive God’s healing touch.
Too often, I fear, we get caught up in should’s and shouldn’ts. ”Well, I shouldn’t be like this, so it cannot be true.” “I ought to be a better person. There must be something wrong with me.” If you’re a Christian, you most likely know what I’m talking about. We need to shine with God’s light to the world. Sometimes, though, we generate all of the doing part on our own for the sake of appearances. For instance, we are told that we are to be hospitable to others, so then we feel it’s something we should be, regardless as to whether or not that is really in our hearts. Instead of possessing a submitted life lived for the Lord, obligation and legalism settle in. The heart of the matter gets dissipated. (Please see my last blog for more on this matter!)
When we just admit to God our weaknesses, faults, sins, etc. and ask for forgiveness, the whole healing process goes so much faster!!! We consent that we are weak and need God’s help and grace to have a heart for what He wants us to be and do. It is in totally relying on the Lord that we are able to be who He so desires us to be.
Any relationship is radically strengthened when you are able to be lovingly truthful with others. Fears. Doubts. Worries. Mistakes. Brute honesty and forgiveness are the way to go.
As we open up our hearts to others, may we always know that our hearts are laid open to and totally bare to the Lord God every single moment of the day and of our life. Whether or not you believe in Him, this is the truth. All that He asks is that we come to Him and give it up. He will replace our darkness with the radically awesome light of His love. Tell Him you are weak. Tell Him you need help to be the way He wants you to be. Then lean on His grace. Look full into His Truth. His Spirit will take God’s Word through the very fibers of your being and make you to be more like Christ.
Face the truth. Face reality. Face God’s Truth. It is reality.
