Truth Be Told: A Six-Day Devotional by Matthew WestExemplo

Day 1

Lie #1:  You're supposed to have it all together.

Truth:  God's holding us all together. We don't have to pretend.  

Let's talk about Paul.  I like to say he was the real deal. Paul wasn't afraid to let the truth be told. Paul was no pretender because he knew that pretenders never changed the world. In 1 Timothy 1:15, he confessed – he said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners “of whom I am the worst.” That's telling the truth. These words can only be spoken from someone with a willingness to be real and a deep understanding of God's grace. You see, Paul wasn't concerned about making people think he was perfect. In fact, he was the first to highlight the opposite saying, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.”  See, instead of pretending, Paul was saying, “Look, I'm a mess. I'm a work in progress but look and see how God is changing my life.” Paul knew that by being real, he, himself would become a real example to others. He wrote, “I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus may display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” When we are willing to be real, authentic, authentically flawed, and who we really are, that's when God's power and patience go on display for others.

Listen to this quote from Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel:

“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God's grace means.”

 By grace, Paul had been set free from any pressure to hide or deny his imperfections. In fact, he was actually empowered by his imperfections to speak more boldly about what God had done in his life. Imagine that - weakness becoming power. Only God could do that in our lives. By acknowledging his dark side, he was opening the door for God to use every part of his story. Now, when you live your life as a pretender you prefer to decide for God which parts of your story He can use. I wonder if you can relate because this is something I've done all too many times. We build our highlight reels and then we offer up all of our good stuff to God saying, “Here you go, Lord. Use me!”  But what if all the while God is looking back at us and saying, “I know about your good stuff, I'm the one who gave it to you!  Now, hand over all the rest. Give me your strongest temptation, your Achilles heel, give me your shadow side that you're afraid to show others, give me the worst parts of your life, the roughest corners of your character… Dare to believe that I see it all and I still love you.  Dare to believe that I can shine brighter through a real sinner than through a perfect pretender.” 

So, what's it going to be? Are you going to allow the pressure to be perfect to turn you into a pretender or will you be one of the few brave souls who dares to be the truest, most rough-around-the-edges, far-from-perfect, authentic version of you?  Grace's strong arms have lifted the pressure of perfection off of your shoulders. You're free now to tell the whole story. No more pretending. Let the truth be told. 

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I don't know why it's so hard to admit it 

When being honest is

The only way to fix it 

There's no failure, no fault,

There's no sin you don't already know

So, let the truth be told