Learning the Language of Truth - Himalayan Heights – May 9 Readings: Colossians 3:9 – Stop Lying

 Colossians 3:1-17 A Primer in Christian Living

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  Colossians 3:1-17

Colossians 3:1-17 is a step by step guide to Christian living. It is a series of 12 commands, each of which builds on the previous one, laying out how we should live as followers of Jesus Christ. Each day, read the entire 17 verses, then meditate on the verse or verses that are the focus passage.

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices...

Notes: We continue in Phase 2, examining Step 5, taking off the dirty clothes of sin so that we can put on the clean clothes of righteousness.

The whole point of focusing on one passage for 2 weeks, and looking at a single verse in that passage in a day, is to give you time to think, to pray, to meditate, and to conscientiously apply that verse to your life. Please do not hurry through this, or it is wasted!

Through the Bible Readings: 2 Samuel 7-8, Luke 23:1–25, Psalm 59:1–6, Proverbs12:19-20

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: Learning the Language of Truth    

Have you ever tried to learn a new language? We were born speaking English (most of us, at least). We think in English, we dream in English, and we speak in English. There's another language that we are born speaking, according to God's word - the language of lies. We live in a world of lies and our nature, ever since Eden, is to believe the lies and to reject the truth of God. We think in lies, we dream in lies, and we speak in lies. "I have to have that." "I can never forgive him (or her) for what happened." "Things will never work out." Lie after lie after lie the world tells us, and we tell ourselves.

Then, we meet "Truth." Truth, in the Bible, is not just a concept, or a set of doctrines, or a theological system. Truth is a person, Jesus Christ. "I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life." When we meet him, the Spirit takes residence in our minds and he begins to change us over from darkness to light, from the lies to the truth. Our minds are slowly renewed as the Spirit seeks to produce in us the mind of Christ.

Essentially, this is a process of learning to speak a new language, the language of truth. At first, it is always a struggle. You still think and speak in your old language, and have to intentionally translate everything to the new language. Gradually, the struggle phase gives way to fluency. You begin to speak in the new language until gradually, you begin to think in it and it captures your mind. When we read and study God's word, we begin to translate the lies of Satan that have captured this world into the truth of God. Eventually, the Spirit uses the word to enable us to speak truth fluently and the mind of Christ becomes ours. Growing in Christ begins in the mind as the lies of Satan are replaced by the truth of God.

In Colossians 3:9, Paul states his fifth command for successful Christian living. "Do not lie to one another." Deceit marks the character of Satan and is not appropriate for the people of God. The Greek phrase translated "Do not lie" can be a general statement, as is made here, that lying and deceit are never to be part of the conversation of God's people. It is also possible that the phrase could be translated, "Stop lying," assuming that lying is our natural language and is something we must change. No one has to teach a child to lie, but we must train them to tell the truth.

Studying the Bible isn't just a religious duty that we check off our list daily and it isn't just about helping us feel better. We go to God's word to encounter The Truth and to learn of him. The Spirit of God uses God's word to teach us to speak the language of truth fluently.

Father, help me to be so immersed in your word that I become fluent in the language of truth, so that my mind is renewed and the mind of Christ dominates mine. 

Think and Pray:

Are you actively confronting the lies of this world with the truth of God or do you simply speak the language of the world and add a little "God-language" to it?