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Your Truth Report
Zechariah 8:3
"Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain."
One of the most important attributes of God is His truthfulness. In fact, the Scriptures say in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Not only is truth important to God, but He is truth. In other words, Jesus is the source of all truth.
To show you how much God loves truth, you must see how much He hates the opposite of truth which is lying. Proverbs 12:22 says, "Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight." The word "abomination" means "hatred or detestation." Using the word abomination in our modern day language would be to say that lying makes God upset at His stomach. There are very few sins that God calls an abomination. Lying is categorized with such sins as sodomy, child sacrifice, molestation, adultery, idolatry and sowing discord among the brethren. This is a very disgusting list. Yet, God says that is how much He hates lying. Thus, you can see that God has the same degree of hatred for lying as he has for a love of truth.
In the verse above, when God comes to set up His kingdom, He said that "...Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth;..." God's kingdom will be a kingdom established on truth. Everything that He will do will be done in truth. However, just as the kingdom of God will be established by truth, our lives should also be established by truth. When people think of you, is one of the thoughts that come to their mind is that you are a person of truth? Let me give you several thoughts about truth.
First, telling the truth is not always going to be easy. Being a truthful person at times will be inconvenient, but you should always be truthful. Whenever you talk about a situation, you should not exaggerate, but you should tell the truth. You should never lie whenever the truth will hurt you or your family. Lying should never be an option for ANYTHING. You don't lie to protect people, you always tell the truth. Though society may say differently, God is a God of truth and He demands that we tell the truth all the time.
Second, your degree of truthfulness reveals your degree of character. You show me what it will take for you to lie and I will show you how much character you have. If you are a person of truth, then you are a person of character. On the opposite hand, if you are a person who will lie or exaggerate to make your perception better, then you are a person of little character.
Third, your degree of truthfulness reveals the degree to which you can be trusted. If there were a way to have a truth report like your finances have a credit report, what would we find on that report? Imagine if someone had to look at your truth report before they ever placed confidence in you, would you ever have confidence placed in you? The fact is, people will keep a mental report of your truthfulness and will determine how much confidence they will place in you by that mental report.
Christian, be a person of truth. Don't ever tell people to lie even if lying helps to keep a good perception. You should be a person who loves truth to the degree that God loves truth. Your degree of truthfulness will determine your degree of Christlikeness. With that being the case, how Christlike are you?