To Stop the Lie (3)

Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. Psalm 63.4, 5

A day is coming…
A day is coming, the great Day of the Lord, when Jesus Christ will finally put to silence every mouth that today boasts against God and spreads lies in place of truth. We who believe in Jesus long for that day and rejoice to contemplate eternity with the Lord in a new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells, and lies shall be no more.

For the time being, however, mindful of the fact that we live in an age of half-truths, deceit, wrong belief, and outright lies, the followers of Jesus Christ must accept our calling to imitate the Savior and the apostles by confronting those who live in lies, to interrupt and stop the lie, leaving those who lie with nothing left to say. Confronting, exposing, and stopping lies will give the world a foretaste of truth and of the freedom that comes from living in it.

How can we do this? How can we hope to make a solid contribution of truth to turn back the tide of lies that even now threatens to inundate the world?

Well, we must start where we can. Every day.

Begin with yourself
David’s advice is to begin with ourselves, and our relationship with God.

Why do people accept the lies they hear on television, in the press, from politicians, neighbors, associates, and friends? Lies about what really matters in life, what our priorities should be, what’s right for me to do, and so forth? Why do we so readily pass on lies to others – whether we know them to be lies or not? There must be something inwardly satisfying about embracing a lie and passing it along. We may not realize that what we’re hearing or sharing is a lie; all we know is that it sounds right, feels OK, and seems to satisfy some inward longing to be “in the know.”

Let’s face it: It’s just too easy to find ourselves participating in lies. And we who believe in Jesus and the truth of God are not immune from this tendency. We must be continually vigilant against the lie, lest it take root in and poison all our soul, leaving us ultimately withered within and unable to live or proclaim the truth that is in Jesus.

We must not be satisfied for lies to have any place in our thinking, affections, priorities, or values.

David says that we should rather seek to satisfy our souls in the Lord, blessing and praising Him, setting our minds on Him, feeding sumptuously on His Word, and communing continuously with Him in prayer. When our lives are defined by daily worship, prayer without ceasing, and a steady diet of the Word of God, we will develop such a taste for truth that anything less simply won’t bring the satisfaction we desire.

And as we see that truth supremely manifested in Jesus Christ, exalted in glory, we will hurry to rid ourselves of any lies that might obscure that glorious vision or turn us away from it altogether.

Believers who steep themselves in God and His truth will not go looking for satisfaction in whatever tickles their ears or satisfies their unsanctified longings. They will know a lie when they hear it; they will recognize every lie as evil; and they will hate all lies and guard their soul against them (Ps. 97.10). And the place to begin in overthrowing the lie is in our own soul. As worship, prayer, reading and meditation, talking with other believers about God’s truth, and living the truth out in our everyday lives – as these become the daily discipline and defining characteristics of our lives, the lies by which this world seeks to entice and mislead us will be less and less palatable.

When we hunger and thirst for the Lord and His righteousness, when we are feeding on the solid food of His Word, so that our soul grows fat in Him, and when we experience the fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore which come in the Presence of the Lord (Ps. 16.8), we will not be inclined to turn from the truth of God to ideas and practices that make us vulnerable to the devil’s accusations.

No longer appealing
As that happens, we’ll find that our desire to wallow in the lies of pop culture, join in the gossip and half-truths of frivolous or self-serving conversation, entertain sinful thoughts or affections, sit silently by while lies destroy lives and ruin culture, or give our time, resources, and strength to things that have no eternal value – all this is greatly diminished as our soul is fattened by the Word and Presence of the Lord.

Simply put, the lie, in all its forms, will no longer appeal to those who find all their satisfaction in the Lord.

So if we want to silence the lies of our generation, we need to begin within, by training the palate of our soul to prefer the glorious truth of God to the dangerous lies of the day. Every day, and all day long.

For reflection
1.  What is it about a lie that makes it so appealing to people? How do you resist that appeal?

2.  Meditate on Psalm 139.23, 24. What practice does the psalmist describe? How can this help in guarding your soul against lies?

3.  Meditate on Hebrews 10.24. What responsibility do believers have toward one another when it comes to the Lie?

Next steps – Transformation: Spend an extended time in silent meditation, looking for ways the lie has established a foothold in your life. Confess any lingering affinities for the lie and repent of any sins. Let this become a daily practice, morning and evening.

T. M. Moore

You can download all the studies in this series, “Let God Be True,” by clicking here.

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