Fear No Fear

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32, MEV). Jesus loves us enough to tell us the truth because Jesus wants us to be free. Lies bind us. Even the ones we think are acceptable. Like the classic ‘trap questions’ of a relationship. One partner says to the other ‘do I look fat/bad in this’ or ‘do you think that person is attractive’? They are ‘trap’ questions meant to give you information that you think would cause a fight or issue if you asked for the information directly. They can also be ‘fishing’ questions where you are trying to get validation in some indirect way. Usually we can sense it is a non-honest question. Other times, we’ve heard about the question from someone else and are somewhat prepared when it is asked of us. Our answer is usually to lie. To fudge the truth in some way. To give an answer that won’t result in an emotional reaction without giving any thought to the truthfulness of it. In some way, we ask each other these questions all the time. Do you like that food I made? Did you like my performance? Are you happy to be here? Did you like my movie choice? It goes on and on. Humanity is a social species. We are a curious species. We want to know. So we ask. And ask. And ask. Because of our selfishness, we lie when we answer. Yes, our compassion makes it so that we don’t want to hurt their feelings. But our underlying motivation is that we don’t want to experience an awkward scene or carry around our own feelings of guilt that we caused someone hurt. Or we lie because we selfishly want to avoid a situation. We don’t care how the answer will impact someone, so we lie in order to bail. It is a smothering morass of social chains and an emotional minefield that we consistently need to navigate. It’s EXHAUSTING. Jesus loves us enough to free us from them. He loves us enough to give us HIS love for us to use and to grow in our own hearts (Galatians 5:22-23). He loves us enough to make sure WE can love – so that we can speak truth without harm. So that we can leave behind the lies – which are never innocent – and walk in His truth. So that honesty, integrity, and compassion can be the pillars of our social interactions. Jesus loves us enough to teach us to love like He does.