Your True Self

 Your true self...

By Bobby Schuller, Hour of Power Pastor

"Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy."

-Proverbs 28:13

Every time we lie, that lie goes into our subconscious minds and we have to hold it, sometimes for years. We have to remember continually that, "I lied about this," and remember the details. That is an actual psychological and spiritual burden we carry with us. And the more lies and more dishonest we are, the heavier that burden becomes.

What would our lives be like if we could not lie? Let's challenge ourselves to find out. It'll be very difficult at first, but we'll be so glad we did. We'll be so glad that our characters become more important to us than a falsely created image. And if people hate us or love us, at least it's really us and not the fake images we've created.

The most important thing is that God loves us, cares for us, needs us, and wants to use us in a hurting and broken world, and it requires that we are honest and truthful people.

We know it's true because, whenever we've lied about something and harbored that lie, or harbored some form of dishonesty, and then took that weight off, it's only after we took it off that we realize how heavy and cumbersome it was.

It takes a lot of courage to take it off. It's very difficult because the fear is that people will hate us once they know the truth. Yet, with the truth told, we'll grow closer to people than we ever thought we could. Most of the time, they knew we were being dishonest, anyway.

Let the Lord give you the strength. And know that his love will lift you up as you reveal your true self to others.

Prayer: Lord, only your love can give me the real strength to do this. I want to be my true self with others. I want to find relief from this heavy burden of maintaining lies about myself. Amen.