If we are going to build the Body of Christ and be gentle, humble, patient, and tolerant, then we need recognize the behaviors we easily do that keep us from doing that, namely lying, allowing our anger to cause us to treat each other poorly (sin), using words to tear down rather than build up.
Paul lays out a list of dos and don’ts because he recognized that all of these have a huge impact of the health of the body. You can read about why any of this is important here.
Be Honest. Stop Lying.
Paul puts it “put away your lies and speak the truth to one another BECAUSE WE ARE ALL PART OF ONE ANOTHER.” What he is essentially saying is that when you lie or are deceitful toward others, you are really lying to yourself.
You might be sitting there thinking you don’t lie. Stop lying! If you’ve ever kept the truth from someone, you’ve lied. Omission of the truth in a situation where it would have a consequence either way is the same as lying.
Now, don’t hear me saying that you’ve now got a license to go around being jerks to each other in the name of “telling the truth.” Remember, telling the truth to each other needs to be tempered with being humble, gentle, patient and tolerant. In other words, you don’t have to say something just because you think it. This is “speaking the truth in love” as Paul puts it earlier. I’m pretty sure I just heard a collective cackle from everyone who has ever met me. Am I seriously telling you not to saying something just because it comes into your brain? Yes, I am. I am telling me too.
We cannot possibly trust each other if we cannot be honest with one another. We cannot build trust with people when we are building cases against them. We cannot build each other up when we are busy figuring out how to undercut trust through deceit.
StainedGlassRebel 