Unless it is the Lord who builds the house,
    the builders’ work is pointless.
Unless it is the Lord who protects the city,
    the guard on duty is pointless. – Psalm 127:1

For this morning, just a couple of follow up thoughts. First, there is going to be a boatload of house stuff to talk about and even more going forward; then, everything seems to be connected in some way and men’s Bible study this morning illustrates this beautifully.

There has been some extremely positive commentary in response to yesterday’s post (“Restoration in Tarboro“). Rebekah and I feel privileged to be welcomed so warmly.

We celebrated by meeting with a kitchen design guru and we are already beginning to visualize what might be possible in the space.

The tie in with men’s Bible study was around the idea of truth and authenticity. We looked at several passages but the one that strikes me most profoundly is from John’s Gospel: “So Jesus said to those who believed in him, ‘If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

The group talked about how easy it is to become trapped in a meticulously curated presentation of ourselves, and how misrepresentation harms not only us but those around us.

We cannot be healed unless we first allow ourselves to be known. And we cannot present a compelling witness to the story of faith unless we are true to our own story, our own needs, our own struggles as well as our strengths.

We talked about Acts 4, and the story of Peter and John being told to keep quiet about Jesus. “We cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard,” they replied. Not exaggeration, not carefully crafted arguments, just the truth – simple reporting as to what they have seen and heard.

The truth is setting this house free!

This new (for us) house is – at the moment – laid bare to the extent that the people doing the renovations know the truth about what needs to be done, about what is solid and about what is possible. Because they know the truth then the house will be set free!

Jesus also made his statement about truth in a particular context. And the context was/is as follows: “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples….” other translations suggest, if you continue in my word… if you obey my teaching… if you abide in my word… if you are faithful to what I have said… if you are living out what I tell you….

I really like that, “living out what I tell you.” There is this association in Christ’s teachings between behavior and insight. In other words, we are more likely to know/understand truth if we first put the teachings of Jesus at the center of our lives.

That’s enough for this post. There should be something here, hopefully, for everyone to chew on.

God is always teaching, always encouraging; if only we listen and obey – DEREK