Truth: Friend or foe?

Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? – Galatians 4:16

"Truth was my biggest enemy until it became my only friend," said Thelma, a former prostitute and drug addict.

People whose sin has pulled them down aren’t the only ones who need to hear Thelma’s testimony. Those whose sin has taken them to the heights of wealth and power also need to hear it.

After the truth came out about corruption in several major US corporations, a reporter said, "This isn’t about executive salaries and perks; it’s about truth."

Like corrupt executives, Israel’s King Ahab was a rich and powerful person who got in trouble because he surrounded himself with advisers who told him the lies he wanted to hear rather than the truth he needed to know (2 CHRONICLES 18:4-7). His friends led him to a tragic dead end (vv. 33-34).

Unlike Ahab, Thelma came to the point of realizing that lies were phony friends. In that moment, she turned and faced her biggest fear – truth – and found that what she was running from was actually what she was looking for: God. All her attempts to save herself with lies led to the brink of self-destruction; but when she turned to the God of all truth. He made her a new creation (2 CORINTHIANS 5:17).

Have you made truth your friend or your foe? – Julie A. Link

Questions to Ponder

Have you surrounded yourself with friends who tell you the truth or lies? Is there a truth you’re refusing to face? Have you turned to Christ, who is the truth?

READ: 2 CHRONICLES 18:1-7

Those who listen to lies lose the ability to hear the truth.