Put off falsehood

Ephesians is a letter to Christians who have been chosen, loved, adopted and given new life by God the Father. Hie does this through the work of his Son Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 4 from verse 25 we get some practical instructions mostly around the area of how we speak to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Verse 25 says “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body.”

We must put of falsehood. At worst we can straightforward lie to our neighbours. Sometimes out of pride; sometimes so we don’t damage a precarious relationship. Sometimes it’s to gain an advantage.

But I think more often we are just false in presenting ourselves. We can pretend we are fine when people ask us, “how are you?” when actually we are dying inside. We can say nice things to people to their face and then say horrible things about them behind their backs. We can create a fantastic persona on social media that is not the real us – it’s who we want others to think we are.

But Paul reminds us that we are all part of the one body- the church. There is no reason to be false – we can be ourselves. When we speak falsely we are just damaging ourselves, the body. When we speak truth we nourish and cherish the body.

Written by Graham Nicholls