Oh send out thy light and thy truth; Let them lead me: Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, And to thy tabernacles.

“Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:16-17).

Grace, the Greek word charis, Strongs #5485, is the “merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.” [1]

Charis is the divine influence upon the heart, the enablement out of a free gift of favor which we can only embrace and receive in gratitude. [2] A close word would be charisma (Strongs #5486), which is an endowment or spiritual enablement given as a free gift.

Another place it is used for the first time is in Luke 1:30 where the angel Gabriel told Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor [charis] with God.”

The law, given through Moses, commentary notes, “had its place in revealing man’s condition (Gal 3:24).”[4] The Law was the taskmaster who helped us to realize our need for a Savior. However, the Law itself had no power to save.

Moses, through whom the law was given could not bring the people into the Promised Land. [5] He could only bring the people up to it but could not cross over into this land. It was the one whom Moses imparted into, Joshua (meaning “Jehovah is salvation”), filled with the spirit of wisdom, that was able to take the people into the land. (Deuteronomy 34)

Joshua was a shadow of Jesus. The law cannot bring us into the promises and life of God, they can only help us desire it and drive us to brokenness as we see it from a distance. It is by the free gift of favor of Christ that we receive life. As we believe and are in relationship with Christ, He fulfilled the law for us and we are given this promised gift of true life

Truth, is the Greek word aletheia, Strongs #225, is in reality, in fact, certainly. It not an ethical statement of truth but more the embodiment, it's fullness and scope. It is “the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter.” [3]

The Word of God is also the truth. The Lord says in John 17:17, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” Jesus embodies and fulfills the law (Matthew 5:17-18). In John 1:14 it says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” And in John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way and truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The opposite of truth is deceit. Jesus says in John 8:44, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

They could not see the truth in Jesus because they were under the deception of the devil. What they thought to be true - that Abraham was their father and by their connection to him through their lineage, they would receive eternal salvation – was a false belief.

Knowing the truth (Jesus) makes one free. Jesus says in John 8:31-32 to the Jews that had believed Him, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

So to be caught up in deceit, is to be in bondage and need deliverance. We are to put to death all forms of deceit, lying (Col 3:5-11) since it is part of this bondage that we have been set free from. Instead we are given the Spirit of truth (John 14:17) to convict us of sin, expose lies, and help us to live in the fullness of this truth. The result of living in the truth is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17).

Jesus took seriously that we should root out and put to death all forms of lying, twisting the truth, deceit and manipulation. In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus confronts making oaths, swearing by something in the temple as a means to demonstrate or emphasize that one is speaking the truth. Rather, he says, “all you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Sometimes we just say too much... justifying ourselves, trying to position ourselves or gain approval by our words, when we would actually better off remaining silent.  Proverbs 10:19 says, "The more you talk, the more likely you are to sin. If you are wise, you will keep quiet."

Other times, it is important to speak up and be transparent.   Yesterday I was thinking of going to some Christian event I wanted to go to. I really didn't want to share with anyone that I was going to do so I justified it that it was not their business. I was not being dishonest about it, but I also was not being fully transparent about my plan to go.

The devotional I read as I was getting ready to leave noted about the Sermon on the Mount, “But fundamentally what Jesus is asking of His disciples, therefore of us, is that we be such transparent and honest character that others know that when we say 'yes' we mean 'yes', and similarly, with 'no'(Matthew 5:37). Honesty in thought and speech too often are taken for granted when, in fact, they may be missing from much of our conversation. When you think about it, a habit of honesty in speech is probably closely related to a lack of selfishness. We are simple and honest because our primary concern is not to protect ourselves.” [6]

I felt totally convicted that in my absence of transparency, God saw it as deceit. My concern was protecting myself.  God would have us be genuine in our speech and all that we do with transparency and forthrightness. He would have us live openly in the light with transparency in all our actions. Yet with love and compassion and a concern for others rather than protecting ourselves.

What is interesting is that while Jesus embodied the truth, at the same time He was completely compassionate. Just as Moses demonstrated to us the law, Abraham demonstrated to us faith, Jesus when He came, demonstrated to us love, mercy and compassion. But we often think of truth as being hurtful and this is why we (I) may shy away from it at times.

Failure to speak the truth may have to do with a genuine desire to be kindhearted to others. We speak nothing sometimes in the name of love. But often what is at the root of our lack of transparency is really a desire to be comfortable, avoid an argument or protect ourselves.

At the same time, there are times to be silent... such as when we are judging our brother in our hearts rather than having compassion towards them. In this case we are better to come before God with our judgment rather than the person where we could cause them harm. Jesus says, “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

However, sometimes it is in trying to appease man rather than please God that we may 'soften' or fail to speak the truth. During the time of Jesus, some who believed were not transparent about it because they were afraid of being kicked out of the temple. And what about places where confession of your faith will cost your life?

Sometimes not receiving Christ has to do with being concerned with what others might think. Jesus said to those who did not believe in Him, “How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes form the only God?”

A beautiful example of someone who spoke the truth but yet was full of compassion was Martin Luther King, Jr. What he spoke about often made many people angry and uncomfortable. He spoke against the Vietnam war while many were still for it. He was appalled at how much we spent on going to war compared to what we spent on social justice. And that blacks and whites could fight next to each other but not sit next to each other in a restaurant.

His words did not seem kind to some during his life, but they were full of compassion. As a result of making some uncomfortable and angry with his words, just as we have always killed the prophets of the past, Martin Luther King, Jr. suffered the same fate. But today, as a result of his voice, we live in a world where race no longer has the same hold on us it did in the past. His voice made the way for justice to come forth.

While most of us are not called to be Martin Luther King, Jr's, we can still practice simple and transparent honesty right where we are in our day-to-day lives. We can speak up on the truth and be transparent even when we think it may make others uncomfortable. We can stop avoiding certain topics in fear of insulting someone (speaking of myself here).

Jesus says in John 18:20, “I have spoken openly to the world... I said nothing in secret.”

Lord, I long to be more transparent. Forgive me where I have not been. Help us to practice simple transparency in our every day lives, even when it makes others uncomfortable.

1. Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G5485

2. Strong, James: The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1996, S. H8674

3. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 2:645

4. KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 2078

5. I am not sure where I heard this but believe I heard it somewhere.
   
   
6. Not sure the devotional book this came from.