Day 55: Just Ask Pinocchio - Lying Is The Pits

John 8:31-59

New International Version (NIV)

Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are

 ³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
 ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. ³⁸I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.^[a]”
 ³⁹ “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
   “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would^[b] do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your own father.”
   “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
 ⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 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. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”


On the menu tonight: more super clear language from Jesus. How politically incorrect is it to say, "You belong to your father, the devil"?!?!?! The back and forth is also interesting here: Jesus speaks spiritually, they speak literally. He replies spiritually, they reply literally. Incredible.

I wonder what it means when it says that the devil was a murderer from the beginning. We'll never know this side of eternity, but it's something to ponder. And the thought that lying is his "native language" is a powerful one. Oh, how I have realized that more and more in recent years. The way of the Lord truly is best. Always. Every time I have veered from the path that the Lord has laid out for us, every time I have done what I knew to be wrong, it always caused me pain in the end. Every single time. He truly does knows best, and has shared all with us. How fortunate we are to serve a God who is so inherently good!

Why is it, then, that we so often believe the lies of the devil, when we know from experience that it's going to hurt us in the end? Why do we forget so quickly what happens when we go off path? Because, I guess, the "father of lies" is bound to be good at is job.

God help us all to be aware of the devil's schemes, and to remember who He is.