Telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, seems almost impossible in today’s culture and yet this is the path God points us to as we seek a satisfying and stable life in recovery.
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. (Ephesians 4:15 NRSV)
The most challenging areas to truth-telling in a searching and fearless moral inventory are actually those areas where we don’t even realize we are lying. Honesty is something we are not familiar with. Avoidance of truth has been our familiar “friend”. It has helped us avoid taking responsibility for our actions and has enabled us to deceive those around us. We sought to get our needs met in the way we wanted and decisively made up lies to this end. Many times we told others, and even ourselves, a misleading version of our lives. We’ve distorted the truth and told the same old lies about what happened for so long we’ve created a version of history that is a mixture of reality and false memories. After having been fooled for so long by our own lies, it’s hard to know how to be honest with God, ourselves, and others. Dishonesty kept us going in the same direction for a long time but today it is time to recognize it and deal with it.
We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2 NIV)
God knows the challenges we face in recognizing truth and so He sends His Holy Spirit to live in us, to counsel us and guide us into all truth. If we ask God to reveal our hearts to us, He will. Our part is to trust God to heal and rebuild us as we invite Him to expose the deep pain we have covered for so long. He will strengthen us as we grieve, face and overcome what we find there.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT)
God is faithful to do His part. He awaits our response to His invitation.
©2015 Partners in Hope
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