Truth

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First John 1:8-9 says, “ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

     You can go to a clothing store that sells uniforms and purchase one, put it on and then go out and tell the world that you are an airline pilot, or even an officer in the armed forces, or a fireman or even a policeman.  We know how people dress in other professions and can therefore imitate them with just enough knowledge to get by and pass the buck to someone else when it comes to something you know absolutely nothing about.  The sad part is that if we tell a lie often enough, we begin to believe it ourselves.  I wear a hat that was created for the School of Music in the armed forces where I served for nine years.  The hat has on it, Army, Navy, Marine Corp.  A fellow veteran came up to me and said, “Semper Fi.”  I knew he thought I was a marine and I could have said, “Semper Fi” back to him, or given him a “hoorah” but I informed him that I was of the U. S. Navy.  He said that was okay as we were still brothers.

     The above passage reminds us about truth and how truth needs to be in us and to be a part of our character.  Telling the truth has to become a pattern in our lives and not just an occasional thing.  I guess some lies seem appropriate to some at some times, such as the person who has dementia and who is looking for the dead mother, dead father and dead husband.  I hear the nurses sometimes say, “She’s at the grocery store.”  The person quiets down and forgets what she heard anyway, so the lie seems justified.  It just seemed easier to lie than to tell the person that the person they were looking for was dead.  The same person who remarks about the life status of someone, will come to the conclusion that they have not done anything wrong and therefore have justified their lie thinking that it will calm a person down for  five minutes and so it is okay.  I heard one nurse say, “The best thing I can say is that he is sleeping.” She was right and told the truth.  Even the Lord Jesus Christ said the same of Lazareth, and the disciples did not understand until Jesus finally said, “He is dead.”  Of course, lying is just one of many sins that a person can have.  The point is that if we say we have no sin, and the liar will often say that very same thing, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  Of course we have sin in us.  That is the problem and the Lord Jesus Christ is the solution to the problem.  Verse nine goes on to say that, “If we confess our sin…”  That  is where every person needs to be. Firs of unbelievers and then when a believer sins.  It will haunt a believer when there is known sin, but the unbeliever will still think they are okay because there is no repentance for their sin.  PraiseGod that He still forgives us when we sin. The sins were covered under the blood of Christ on the cross.