To Encourage You

John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – The Spirit of Truth.”

One of the surest marks of a believer in Jesus Christ is truthfulness. This is because the believer is indwelt by the Spirit of Truth. The one filled with and controlled by this Spirit will be focused on truth in every aspect of their life. They will love the truth of the Word of God, wanting to know it more and more, studying it, meditating on it, memorizing it, and eager to share it. The effect of the work of the Word on their lives will be a love of truth in their inner being (Psalm 51:6). They will want to be truthful with others about everything. They will hate deception in all its forms, including self-deception. They will want to know the truth about themselves, including whether there is sin in their heart, and when any hidden sin or sin they haven’t been aware of is revealed to them, either by their study of the Word, or the words of others, they won’t try to justify it, hide it, or ignore it. Rather they will confess it, which means that they will agree with God about it and expose it for what it is. They will not only love truth, they will hate lying – even lies that one could typically get away with because no one else but them know anything about it, whether they are “little white lies” or big ugly lies of hypocrisy – where a person is one way behind closed doors, but a completely different way openly as they try to hide who they really are from others.

Jesus is the Truth. From him comes all Truth. May He help us to be reflections of truthfulness in our inner being and in our outer person as we follow Him.