“But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be clearly seen that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”
John 3:21
From the previous post, I concluded that living in truth is the highest service to the love of God by using the above passage. This post is an attempt to demonstrate how this conclusion can be made and what it looks like practically.
Firstly, to love is to build up, to increase the object of that love. For example, if I were to love my spouse, I would take actions to increase my spouse, with self-sacrifice for my spouse being the greatest action of increase. Likewise, to love God is to increase Him, to build Him up, which is similar to glorifying God (ties to living in the Holy Spirit).
So with love being described as building up, what’s the best way to build up? This is where truth comes in. It may seem obvious, but if things were to be built up with uncertainty, whatever that is being built up will be swept away easily. If things were to be built up with as much certainty as possible (we are not omniscient), then whatever that is being built up will be able to weather storms, or even be eternal. Truth allows for as much certainty as possible.
Truth is the representation of reality, as accurately as possible, whether it is representing external reality, or one’s own internal reality.
As important as representing external reality is, one’s own internal reality is of greater significance to oneself. For example, while rushing to an interview for a prestigious job opportunity, you fall off your bike and injure your knee, external reality informs you with all sorts of information such as the likelihood of your knee to be infected, the best way to get to a hospital, the consequences of not going to a hospital, etc. But the decisions that need to be made in your internal reality dictate what you will do next: either go to a hospital or go to the interview; So although external reality is important for each person to be informed with, it is subservient to one’s own internal reality.
Therefore, pragmatically, to serve love in the highest way is to represent reality, and more importantly, our own internal realities - which is to live in truth. When living in truth, things can build up on solid foundation; love can manifest effectively on solid foundation.
Do you know your own internal reality? Do you know what your own motivations are? For example, I’ve asked this question to myself many times: Why do I, and so many other Christians not read the Bible consistently? For me, am I too lazy or is it too boring for me? Why is it too boring? By further questioning myself in truth, things come into the light: I find the Bible less valuable than other books/articles that I read. Why is that? Although there is more to explore, I will not continue with this thought, but I hope what I’m trying to convey is clear. So now I know that if I wanted to push myself to read the Bible more consistently, I’d have to understand why it is so valuable. One can better love oneself by speaking truth to oneself.
When internal realities are confronted individually, the individual is limited to their own finite ability. When internal realities are explored with others by speaking truth, everyone can be built up on solid foundation. However, it is not easy because one can be persecuted by exposing one’s own reality, which means speaking truth is a test of faith.
Let’s further explore my example from above: When I go to my church community, instead of saying, “I’m not reading the Bible consistently, please help keep me accountable”, speaking truth to others is saying,“I don’t feel reading the Bible is as valuable as reading other books/articles for me”. And by exposing my reality, I can either be judged and looked down on as a bad Christian, or others may realize that they have the same issue and we can now openly explore the value of the Bible in our daily lives. Everyone can better love each other by speaking truth to each other.
When speaking truth to others, the intention matters when living in truth. So when is speaking truth done with the right intentions? It is done with the right intentions when the purpose of speaking truth is not an attempt to force an outcome. What I mean is that when speaking truth, an outcome can be hoped for, but when the outcome unfolds in a way that is not hoped for and the feeling of resentment arises because the fixation on the outcome is so absolute, truth has not been spoken with the right intentions, whether what is hoped for is positive or not. Therefore, it does not constitute to living in truth because the fixation places the value of the outcome greater than God.
Expanding on my example from above: If I were to go to my church community to tell them that I don’t feel reading the Bible is as valuable as reading other books / articles for me and I hope on using that truth to get people to discuss the value of the Bible, that intention is still okay. But if people aren’t interested in discussing the value of the Bible and I become resentful that speaking truth didn’t get the outcome that I wanted, even though I think it will be really beneficial to discuss together, then that truth being spoken did not constitute towards my living in truth. Everyone can better love each other by speaking truth to each other with the right intentions.
When speaking truth to others, how the truth is spoken matters. Is it done out of love? Is it done out of pride? Again, using my example from above: If I were to go to my church community to tell them that I don’t feel reading the Bible is as valuable as reading other books/articles for me, and speak about it in a way where I’m seeking guidance, that is most likely done out of love. If i speak about that in a way where I want demonstrate the deepness of my thoughts and challenge others if they have even thought about it that way, then that is most likely done out of pride. These affect the tone of what is said. Everyone can better love each other by speaking truth to each other constructively.
To conclude, living in truth is the highest service to the love of God, and a practical guideline for living in truth is to:
And if we can do this, I believe every word we speak becomes potent and transformative - because God overflows with each word that comes from truth, which is given by the Holy Spirit.
Some questions: