the lies Satan tells {and then there's the Truth}

You can never get anything right.


You will never be good enough.


You are a failure...as a wife, a homemaker, a daughter, a sister, a friend.


You are miserable.  You are pathetic.  You are weak.


You don't deserve any good thing.  You don't deserve to be loved.


These are the lies Satan tells me.
These are the words that sometimes fill my head.
This is how Satan gets past the truth.
This is how he twists reality.

Yes, I am a sinner...
but I am also a child of God, saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.


No, I will never be good enough--on my own--
but that's why Jesus was good enough--PERFECT--in my place.
So that I wouldn't have to be.


No, I can't do everything right--by myself--
but that's why the Holy Spirit lives in my heart.
So He can help me live a life that honors God.


Yes, I will mess up.  A lot.
But I am forgiven because of Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again
so that I could have eternal life.


No one is perfect.  No one can, on their own power, live a life that pleases God.
That's why we need Jesus.
That's why God sent Jesus, his only Son, into our sinful world--
to save us from Satan, from sin, from death, and from our own sinful natures.
Now, because of Christ, we are new creations.  We are pure, holy, redeemed.
And we have the promise of eternal life.


Jesus said to the people who did not believe in him,

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lied, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."  -John 8:44

Jesus said to those who did believe in him,

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  -John 8:31-32

Later, Jesus said to his disciples,

"I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6

Satan is the father of lies.  Jesus is the Truth.

Who shall I believe?
Who will you believe? 

 (Growing up, I had an old portable tape player on which I listened to cassette tapes--I'm just old enough to have not heard of CD's when I was really little.  My favorite tape was an old "Best of Amy Grant," and this was my favorite song on it.  That tape is so worn-out now that it hardly plays properly--but the song is as great now as it was then.  Also of note is the pianist in this video.  Do you recognize him?  It's a very young Michael W. Smith!)

What is Truth?

"What is truth?"

It is the question Pilate asked Jesus, just hours before Jesus' crucifixion (John 18:38).

Jesus had just said to him, "In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

"Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."


Well, but what is truth?  Who defines it?

Is truth what we make of it?  Is it whatever we choose?  You have your truth, and I have mine, and we'll all get along.

Well, but maybe my truth is different from yours.  Maybe my truth says that nothing you say is true.
But what if your truth says that nothing I say is true?  What then?

We need something that defines truth.  Something that's not any of us, because we'll never come down to a solid answer on our own.

Jesus told his followers, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31).

Now we're getting somewhere.  If we hold to Jesus' teaching...we will know the truth.  What did Jesus teach?

The most important thing he said was this:

"God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life."

-Jesus (John 3:16)

Jesus also said this:

"I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6)

There is the answer to Pilate's question.  What is truth?  Jesus is truth.  His teachings are truth.

But wait, there's one thing more.
Jesus=God.  (John 1:1-3)
God's teachings=Jesus' teachings.
God's teachings=Scripture ("God's Word").
Scripture=Jesus' teachings.
Jesus' teachings=truth.
Scripture=truth.

What is truth?
Truth is every word found in God's Word: in the Bible.

Then this, too, is truth:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8-10).

(Leaving you with something to perhaps make you smile.  Brad Stein is one of my favorite Christian speakers and comedians.  He has a lot of good things to say...including about truth.)

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