The Practice of Truth – The Ninth Commandment

The Practice of Truth

Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20

“You shall not bear false witness.”

Ephesians:4.15

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…

We must become a people devoted to truth.

The way to transform our culture of lies is by opposing it with a culture of truth. This can only come from the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, writing about the characteristics of a healthy, growing church, indicates that “speaking the truth in love” is one of the marks of maturity. The text literally seems to indicate speaking and living the truth in love, and that this is the calling of the entire congregation, not just a few select people. This begins with the leadership. Do your pastor and elders spend daily time in God’s Word, reading, meditating, and studying? Is the preaching in your church grounded in Scripture? Are the members taught, urged, encouraged, and helped to take up the study of Scripture on their own? Does your church practice church discipline? Are you being discipled so that you can follow Jesus in every area of your life? We will begin living and speaking the truth in love only when these prerequisites are in place.

Pray

Lord, stay the hand of judgment against us! Renew us in Your Spirit and truth! Grant that we – that I – may become so grounded in Your truth that nothing will be able to separate me from You and Your love.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.