4.6--The cost of truth

4.6-The cost of truth

If we decide to follow God instead of ritual religion there must be a change of heart.   It requires knowing the spirit of truth and living by it at all costs.  This is not as easy as we might think.  We become trained by our surrounding culture, work culture and religious culture to say things that aren’t true.  Someone goes to church and is asked, “How are you?”  The untruthful answer we often give is “fine.”  We resist being brutally honest with ourselves and others.  When we decide to speak the truth in love or nothing at all things will change and there can be a change of who is willing to associate with us.  Jesus stuck with the truth and some of his own family thought he was mentally off.  God gives people the spirit of truth in their hearts. I hope to be more aligned with what is in my heart in my words tomorrow than I was today.

Matthew 3.

3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”^[a]

⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
¹¹ “I baptize you with^[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with^[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”