Am I Your Enemy?

Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? (Galatians 4:16)

I have wondered often about this ... Jesus told the truth, He couldn't help it, because He is the Truth! Consider that mind bendy concept. Only being able to speak truth because by your very nature, you are IT!

The wedge

I like to think of myself as a truth teller but I admit, it pains me when I have been adamant about it, and then I perceive that speaking what is true becomes the wedge between me and the person that now sees me as a threat, an enemy to their world view. I have not cornered the market on truth, it isn't mine and mine alone. That isn't my point at all. I can believe that I have the truth and discover that I was off base, or looked away from truth to have my own way ...

Looking away

It is the looking away from truth to have our own way that puts us in jeopardy, placing a wedge between us and God. If Jesus Christ is Truth as proclaimed in the Bible, then simple white lies, lies of omission, and lies commissioned too, can drive us far and away from Him, making Him our enemy in our minds eye while we are looking away.

The quoted verse above are Paul's words. He is enquiring of the Galatians, how it was that they received the gospel and so readily, not long after, were deceived and moving backward, going into what they had just been delivered from? They were returning to bondage, convinced by foes rather than friends to return to the law, rather than continue faithfully as Christ followers. Paul is asking them, in telling you the truth, have I become your enemy? 

Really, he is making a statement: As your friend, I tell you the truth! 

Paul is not defensive in this statement. He is not feeling threatened or at a loss. He is wanting for his friends, his spiritual children, to grow up in their faith. He wants them to mature past being tricked into dead and old ways that nullify faith and spiritual growth. He wants them alive in Christ. Anything that puts a wedge between us and Truth, is dangerous: this is Paul's point. 

Telling and living the truth

When I tell the truth, when you do too

When I live the truth, when you do too

We are aligning with the living God

Sigh, this makes me content to think about. 

It can feel like risky business to speak and live the truth, and I am discovering that the struggles in life stem from this one point of contact and context. 

Truth or lies ... these are our only real options. There are consequences for both.