Truth Is Still Truth
I have not yet seen the movie The Greatest Showman but have heard from an overwhelming majority of people how absolutely amazing it is. I can not wait to see it and hope I will get to while it is still on the big screen (come on babysitters!!). This is a classic underdog story where the forgotten people with “differences” come breaking through out of the shadows and into the limelight. They have seemingly insurmountable odds stacked against them and a boat load of really hateful people pointing fingers at them, but they prevail in the end. Now who doesn’t love a story like that? If you don’t, you might have a black heart. Just kidding, but seriously, it’s just good stuff.
Everyone reading this probably loved that first paragraph. Nothing really to contend with (other than the fact that you might be among the .0000001% that didn’t care for the movie). Now here comes the hard part. The twist in my blog “plot” that some will agree with and some will not care for one bit. And that is that no matter what your “thing” is in your life that you seem to struggle with the most, no matter how hard your recurring battle with a certain “vice” and no matter what seemingly immovable burden has been placed in front of you… God’s truth is STILL truth when it comes to how you should move forward with it.
I’m confused, what are you trying to say here? I am saying that unlike the characters in The Greatest Showman who wholeheartedly embraced their “thing” and put it on like a suit of armor and went out into the world screaming, “Take it or leave it! This is me and I ain’t changing for nobody.” sometimes as believers we have to take a different approach. Sometimes we have to do a little more digging into God’s word and find out how he feels about our “thing” and then act accordingly. Because the ugly (and admittedly very hard to understand) truth of the matter is, not everything is okay with him. And just because it’s a struggle for you, I mean like a really real struggle, you still don’t get to proudly wear it around for the world to see while stating, “Well, this is just who I am. It’s my weak spot and honestly I am done fighting it. I’m going to fully embrace it as the new me and that’s all there is to it.” I think God might say that there is actually a TON more to it and you are just scratching the surface.
I love to feel empowered by watching others finally come to terms with exactly who they are and learn how to embrace it and live their best lives. It is such a feel good moment when the transformation takes place and the person just accepts that they are who they are and no one else is gonna bring them down about it. EXCEPT when that person, at the same time, makes a conscious choice to ignore any pertinent truth from God's word that should have been applied before giving themselves over. Ugh, sin is so deceitful! It will tell the weakest AND the strongest among us that it really doesn’t matter in the end if you give into it. What’s the harm really? Clearly you think about it (whatever your “it” is) ALL the time, so it’s obvious you were made this way. Why fight it? Just relent already! You will be soooo much happier. And you will. In the short-term you will find all sorts of bliss in giving yourself over to your desire. But what’s the long-term cost? Sure you feel great now. I mean, maybe you feel a bit out of step in your relationship with Jesus, but that’s only temporary right? Give it time and soon he’ll adjust to this new you and you’ll be back in sync. LIES. Just a big, bad, nasty, dirty bucket of filthy lies. Descriptive enough? I should go on, but I won’t. You were made in the image of God! If you don’t believe me, look it up. It’s in Genesis. An article I read from Focus on the Family states it this way:
“Humankind, then, was created to be a "copy" or a "graphic image" of the Creator - a formal, visible, and understandable representation of who God is and what He is really like.”
(https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-q-and-a/faith/what-it-means-to-be-made-in-the-image-of-god)
So if for even a second you think that God would be okay with your saying, “I give up. I can not fight any longer. I have to relent and just accept that I am this way. Take it or leave it.” YOU ARE WRONG. No sugarcoating whatsoever. You are mistaken, friend. Being made as a “copy” or “graphic image” of the Creator of the universe means that you have more power within you than you even realize. It means that, even though you may not have learned how to tap into it yet, you have God-sized strength to overcome what seems like the most impossible hurdle in your life. You have his ability to become a fighter like you’ve never known and yes, you have the power to resist ANY and all sin that comes creeping around telling you those lies again. Just like satan lied and asked Eve in the garden, “Did God really say don’t eat of that tree?” he’s lying and asking you right now, “Do you really think that God would make you this way and then say don’t do it?” The answer is, God DIDN’T make you this way. He made you in his image with the power to overcome anything. Sin is what makes you think you can’t possibly be any other way and it is simply a lie to the nth degree. Dive into God’s word and begin to harness the power of TRUTH to combat those lies!! “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
Two other things before I wrap this up. First, I had one of my first “Glory, Hallelujah!” moments the first time I read through the book of Exodus. The very quick summary of the story goes like this; Moses told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go so that they could escape their bonds of slavery and begin the process of building their own nation with God as their leader. After a very unfortunate series of events, Pharaoh finally relented and let the Israelites leave Egypt which had been their home for over 400 years. But, at the last minute Pharaoh had a change of heart and began to pursue them to try to re-capture them back into bondage. The Israelites were very afraid and began to call out to Moses saying, “Why did you do this to us? We are about to be killed! Our lives of slavery would have been better than this!” And then Moses answered with these words, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” YOU NEED ONLY TO BE STILL! I mean, I am running a victory lap around my couch just thinking about that! The Lord will do ALL my fighting for me? I only need to be still and allow him room to do it? Yes. That is the power of absolute truth over the ever-changing lies of satan. The second thing relates to the story in John of the woman who had been caught in adultery and was about to be stoned to death by the Pharisees in her town. This is the story where Jesus famously states, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” I’m tearing up even now just thinking about this scene unfolding. But here’s the thing about this story that often times gets left out. After Jesus says this to the Pharisees, one by one they start to leave the scene. Amazing. But then he turns to the woman and says, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She answers, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus concludes with, “Then neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin.” Leave your life of sin. No one talks about that part. Do you know why? Because the lies of whatever sinful act you are now engaged in tell you that Jesus won’t condemn you so why be so concerned? But the truth is, although Jesus didn’t come to condemn you, he does expect you to straighten up when he tells you to. He didn’t tell her it was okay to continue in her sin, he said stop it now. And even though we don’t have details about what happened next in this woman’s life, I can only imagine that she was so turned upside down by the power of Jesus that from that day forward she decided she COULD do the hard work of changing her sinful lifestyle because HE was already there fighting her battle before she even arrived.
Do not give up the fight. Do not relent to the deceitfulness of sin’s lies. Do not convince yourself that you are done fighting because your strength is gone. You have every last thing that you need to fight like your life depends on it… because it does. You have the TRUTH! You have Jesus at your disposal to do your fighting for you. Do not let your “thing” have more power over you than your heavenly father. And please, oh please, do not let the short-term desire of momentary happiness overshadow the long-term JOY you will find in a right relationship with Christ. There is no substitute for that. Do not give up the fight!
Footnote: I am not hatin’ on the fictional characters of The Greatest Showman or their particular differences. Again, I haven’t even seen it yet so I don’t even know what they are. This was just a good segue into my greater point. As believers in real life, sometimes we just can’t go full force into something without doing a truth check first to see if it’s in God’s will for our lives. That’s it. Now bring on some Hugh Jackman...
Everyone reading this probably loved that first paragraph. Nothing really to contend with (other than the fact that you might be among the .0000001% that didn’t care for the movie). Now here comes the hard part. The twist in my blog “plot” that some will agree with and some will not care for one bit. And that is that no matter what your “thing” is in your life that you seem to struggle with the most, no matter how hard your recurring battle with a certain “vice” and no matter what seemingly immovable burden has been placed in front of you… God’s truth is STILL truth when it comes to how you should move forward with it.
I’m confused, what are you trying to say here? I am saying that unlike the characters in The Greatest Showman who wholeheartedly embraced their “thing” and put it on like a suit of armor and went out into the world screaming, “Take it or leave it! This is me and I ain’t changing for nobody.” sometimes as believers we have to take a different approach. Sometimes we have to do a little more digging into God’s word and find out how he feels about our “thing” and then act accordingly. Because the ugly (and admittedly very hard to understand) truth of the matter is, not everything is okay with him. And just because it’s a struggle for you, I mean like a really real struggle, you still don’t get to proudly wear it around for the world to see while stating, “Well, this is just who I am. It’s my weak spot and honestly I am done fighting it. I’m going to fully embrace it as the new me and that’s all there is to it.” I think God might say that there is actually a TON more to it and you are just scratching the surface.
I love to feel empowered by watching others finally come to terms with exactly who they are and learn how to embrace it and live their best lives. It is such a feel good moment when the transformation takes place and the person just accepts that they are who they are and no one else is gonna bring them down about it. EXCEPT when that person, at the same time, makes a conscious choice to ignore any pertinent truth from God's word that should have been applied before giving themselves over. Ugh, sin is so deceitful! It will tell the weakest AND the strongest among us that it really doesn’t matter in the end if you give into it. What’s the harm really? Clearly you think about it (whatever your “it” is) ALL the time, so it’s obvious you were made this way. Why fight it? Just relent already! You will be soooo much happier. And you will. In the short-term you will find all sorts of bliss in giving yourself over to your desire. But what’s the long-term cost? Sure you feel great now. I mean, maybe you feel a bit out of step in your relationship with Jesus, but that’s only temporary right? Give it time and soon he’ll adjust to this new you and you’ll be back in sync. LIES. Just a big, bad, nasty, dirty bucket of filthy lies. Descriptive enough? I should go on, but I won’t. You were made in the image of God! If you don’t believe me, look it up. It’s in Genesis. An article I read from Focus on the Family states it this way:
“Humankind, then, was created to be a "copy" or a "graphic image" of the Creator - a formal, visible, and understandable representation of who God is and what He is really like.”
(https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-q-and-a/faith/what-it-means-to-be-made-in-the-image-of-god)
So if for even a second you think that God would be okay with your saying, “I give up. I can not fight any longer. I have to relent and just accept that I am this way. Take it or leave it.” YOU ARE WRONG. No sugarcoating whatsoever. You are mistaken, friend. Being made as a “copy” or “graphic image” of the Creator of the universe means that you have more power within you than you even realize. It means that, even though you may not have learned how to tap into it yet, you have God-sized strength to overcome what seems like the most impossible hurdle in your life. You have his ability to become a fighter like you’ve never known and yes, you have the power to resist ANY and all sin that comes creeping around telling you those lies again. Just like satan lied and asked Eve in the garden, “Did God really say don’t eat of that tree?” he’s lying and asking you right now, “Do you really think that God would make you this way and then say don’t do it?” The answer is, God DIDN’T make you this way. He made you in his image with the power to overcome anything. Sin is what makes you think you can’t possibly be any other way and it is simply a lie to the nth degree. Dive into God’s word and begin to harness the power of TRUTH to combat those lies!! “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
Two other things before I wrap this up. First, I had one of my first “Glory, Hallelujah!” moments the first time I read through the book of Exodus. The very quick summary of the story goes like this; Moses told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go so that they could escape their bonds of slavery and begin the process of building their own nation with God as their leader. After a very unfortunate series of events, Pharaoh finally relented and let the Israelites leave Egypt which had been their home for over 400 years. But, at the last minute Pharaoh had a change of heart and began to pursue them to try to re-capture them back into bondage. The Israelites were very afraid and began to call out to Moses saying, “Why did you do this to us? We are about to be killed! Our lives of slavery would have been better than this!” And then Moses answered with these words, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” YOU NEED ONLY TO BE STILL! I mean, I am running a victory lap around my couch just thinking about that! The Lord will do ALL my fighting for me? I only need to be still and allow him room to do it? Yes. That is the power of absolute truth over the ever-changing lies of satan. The second thing relates to the story in John of the woman who had been caught in adultery and was about to be stoned to death by the Pharisees in her town. This is the story where Jesus famously states, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” I’m tearing up even now just thinking about this scene unfolding. But here’s the thing about this story that often times gets left out. After Jesus says this to the Pharisees, one by one they start to leave the scene. Amazing. But then he turns to the woman and says, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She answers, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus concludes with, “Then neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin.” Leave your life of sin. No one talks about that part. Do you know why? Because the lies of whatever sinful act you are now engaged in tell you that Jesus won’t condemn you so why be so concerned? But the truth is, although Jesus didn’t come to condemn you, he does expect you to straighten up when he tells you to. He didn’t tell her it was okay to continue in her sin, he said stop it now. And even though we don’t have details about what happened next in this woman’s life, I can only imagine that she was so turned upside down by the power of Jesus that from that day forward she decided she COULD do the hard work of changing her sinful lifestyle because HE was already there fighting her battle before she even arrived.
Do not give up the fight. Do not relent to the deceitfulness of sin’s lies. Do not convince yourself that you are done fighting because your strength is gone. You have every last thing that you need to fight like your life depends on it… because it does. You have the TRUTH! You have Jesus at your disposal to do your fighting for you. Do not let your “thing” have more power over you than your heavenly father. And please, oh please, do not let the short-term desire of momentary happiness overshadow the long-term JOY you will find in a right relationship with Christ. There is no substitute for that. Do not give up the fight!
Footnote: I am not hatin’ on the fictional characters of The Greatest Showman or their particular differences. Again, I haven’t even seen it yet so I don’t even know what they are. This was just a good segue into my greater point. As believers in real life, sometimes we just can’t go full force into something without doing a truth check first to see if it’s in God’s will for our lives. That’s it. Now bring on some Hugh Jackman...
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