The Truth

This is Sunday morning. Like many others over the decades, I’m getting ready to meet others who are like-minded in the house of the Lord. Last night I heard a song, one I’ve heard many times before, that brought a twinge of sadness to my heart. I’ve often wondered if church as we know it today is what God intended. Was it intended to be a place where we gathered to show our best faces and best garb? A Sunday morning showcase where we pretend to be okay. I have done that a time or two. Growing up in church, I am well attuned to what my fellow brothers and sisters expect of me. I know how to avoid or evade the questions or topics I don’t want to talk about. I know the face to wear and the right words to say to make you think I am ‘blessed and highly favored’. Truthfully, I am well versed in ‘Christianese’.

However, here’s the truth – ‘the only one I am fooling is myself’. At the end of the day, God sees what man can’t or don’t want to see. The truth is, the only opinion that matters is His. God desires ‘truth in the inward parts’. We do not grow or mature pretending to be what we are not. He meets us at the place where we are authentically ourselves – mess and all. So, can we be open and bare before Him today? Maybe as we remove the mask, others might be encouraged to do the same. Can God count on the real me , the real you to show up? We may want to remove the façade before Sunday morning. I am sure He longs to meet the unedited version of His children in the daily details of life. The real one He created – without the filters we’ve become so comfortable wearing. I think this is where He can begin to walk us through the needed changes. Here are a few lines of Matthew West’s ‘The Truth be Told’:

Lie number one you’re supposed to have it all together
And when they ask how you’re doing
Just smile and tell them, “Never better”
Lie number 2 everybody’s life is perfect except yours
So keep your messes and your wounds
And your secrets safe with you behind closed doors

Truth be told
The truth is rarely told, now
I say I’m fine, yeah I’m fine oh I’m fine, hey I’m fine but I’m not
I’m broken
And when it’s out of control I say it’s under control but it’s not
And you know it
I don’t know why it’s so hard to admit it
When being honest is the only way to fix it
There’s no failure, no fall
There’s no sin You don’t already know
So let the truth be told

Join me on this journey – ‘let the truth be told’. As I’ve gotten to understand and discover the unconditional love of my heavenly Father, the burden of pretense as rolled off my back. There’s a safe place at His feet where He longs to meet me in my brokenness. If you haven’t discovered that freedom yet, I invite you to start where you are. Tell Him the truth. Here’s the part that makes me smile – ‘ There’s nothing we’re going to tell Him that He doesn’t already know’. So let the truth be told.

“…I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inner man; You want me to possess wisdom in the inner places. “[ Psalm 51: 5-6]

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