“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32, ESV)
The head instructor for the golf school stood on the range in front of us with a driver and about six golf balls. He asked if we had ever been told we had to keep our lead arm (left for a right-handed golfer) straight? Yes. Had we been told to swing back very slowly. Yes again. How about “Keep your head down and eye on the ball?” Yes, definitely, for all 20 of us.
He then proceeded to hit a drive straight down the range with his left arm bent at the top, another with a furiously fast backswing, and finally he hit a great drive that flew high and straight while he looked away from the range and directly back at us!
Something is true if it agrees with reality and false if it doesn’t. That applies to golf instruction, to life, and to spiritual instruction. In all of those, there are two kinds of falsehoods: the falsehood of error or ignorance; the deliberate falsehood of a lie.
We should confront falsehoods, and the first place that should happen is in us.While out walking once I gave directions to a fellow who stopped and was lost. After he drove off, I realized that I had steered him wrong, and I felt terrible. Then I wondered if I’d ever done that to people who had asked me for spiritual guidance. The rest of the walk included prayers for him and a lot of asking for forgiveness.
But worse by far is the intentional lie, which happens when we present anything as true that does not agree with what we believe. When we put an is where we know there should be an is not, or the other way around, we lie.
What do we do when we encounter falsehood? We should confront it, and the first place that should happen is in us. (See above. Also see “log” and “splinter” removal in Matthew 7:3-5.) The better we know truth, the easier we see falsehood.
Wherever we encounter spiritual falsehood, whether the error/ignorance kind or the deliberate lie kind, we should stand for truth. In fact, we are told that Satan is the father of lies, and that an important part of our spiritual armor is truth.
Two days after golf school, I was on the range and I actually heard a young man tell his girlfriend to keep her arm straight, swing slow, and keep her head down. I smiled and moved on. But if he had said, “Jesus was a fake,” I would have stopped. So should we all, because only truth can set us free.
—
Lewis Greer
October 16, 2020
Copyright 2020 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THIS SERIES
Why Am I Here? 1: Bearing God’s Image
Why Am I Here? 2: Seeking God
Why Am I Here? 3: Pleasing God
Why Am I Here? 4: Sharing the Gospel
Why Am I Here? 5: Living Sacrificially
Why Am I Here? 6:Being Transformed
Why Am I Here? 7: Using Our Gifts
Why Am I Here? 8: Living in Community
Why Am I Here? 10: Mirroring Christ’s Love