Can't Handle the Truth?

Very few people come to me with the problems that are evident to everyone. Often, they ignore the problems by refusing to acknowledge them. They avoid getting on the scales because they are afraid of how much weight they have gained. It doesn't make them weight less nor does it make their clothes fit but it allows them to continue their eating habits and lack of exercise.

Other people will avoid opening bills from creditors. They just throw them away. It won't keep these creditors from repossessing their cars nor foreclosing on their houses. It allows them to continue spending even though they have no money to do so.

Many people go beyond ignoring their problems. They divert attention away from their problems. They blame McDonald's for their obesity, the credit card companies for their debts and the loan companies for the mortgages they should have never gotten. I have never understood how people can sue the tobacco companies for their lung diseases when it has been printed on the side of the cartons for over forty years. Didn't they notice the smoke in the room?

Jesus said the truth will set you free but people seem to be afraid that the truth will actually bind them. The truth will not let them continue their own mismanagement of their lives. It will make them realize that the damage they are doing to themselves is self-administered. They will have to say it is no one else's fault. They will have to say that they saw it coming.

The truth sets us free because we are no longer under the slavery of the lies. The lies are often told to ourselves by ourselves. The lie says that eating more than needed makes one feel better. The lie says that exercises doesn't feel good. The lie says that it is better to have things that you can't pay for and have them repossessed than to never have them at all.

This is why the Bible is so important. It delivers the truth when one remains in it. Remaining is not merely reading the Word but doing it. It is allowing that word to become a part of life.

Are you avoiding the truth? Have you gotten on the scales lately? Have you opened all the bills to see how long it would take to pay them off? Have you opened God's Word and seen where you need to make changes? Do you really like slavery?

The truth will set you free.

John 8:31-32 (NIV)
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."