Speaking Truth

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Ephesians 4:22-25

It would seem strange to most Christians that Paul had to tell the members of the church at Ephesus to "speak the truth". There is a reason for this. For we are members of one another. Falsehood destroys relationship within the body. The Bible is telling us that we have to put away lying and deal truthfully with our neighbors.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 15:17-19:

"Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man..."

Satan is known as the Father of lies. In the kingdom, the use of false witness and slander (untruth) is on the same level as murder and adultery. We must always be on guard for the ways that slander can destroy a church. We don't want to be a church like in Corinth where the apostle Paul had to write to them in 2 Cor. 12:20 and tell them:

"For I fear that perhaps I may come and find you not what I wish, and that you may find me not what you wish; that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. "

Our goal is to strive for the unity of purpose of our mission to seek and save the lost. When we unite to serve Jesus Christ based upon our relationship with him, there is a blessed fellowship that breaks out that heals relationship. We become a family of God based upon love for Him and for each other. The forces of evil are opposed to this. Satan knows that the fastest way to destroy that relationship is with falsehood. He did it in the Garden of Eden with Eve. The same thing happens in our lives every day. When it happens within the church it becomes a great tragedy. Lives can be ruined with the slip of the tongue.

So what is our goal? Psalms 133:1 says it best:

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!