Let’s Get Real With Each Other
By Rick Warren
“Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.” Ephesians 4:23-25 (NLT)
To change the defects in your life, you’ve got to have people in your life who tell you the truth. You’re not going to get well on your own. You’re going to need support. You’re going to need a small group.
Change requires honest community.
The things in your life you’re never going to be able to change on your own are typically the things that are the most difficult in your life. They’re also often the things you don’t want anybody else to know about.
You’re never going to get over those things until you share them with someone. You don’t have to tell everybody. You just need to find at least one person who will trust you and whom you trust—someone who will be confidential, love you unconditionally, not be judgmental, and pray for you. You’ll find that revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing.
This does not mean a small group where you get together on a superficial level and everyone is “fine” or “doing great.” You have to get to the level of maturity in your small group where you can say, “I had a tough week. Life is really hard right now. Here’s what happened.”
Ephesians 4:25 says, “So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body” (NLT).
If you’re a believer, you’re also a belonger. You belong in God’s family, and every other believer belongs to you. You cannot become until you belong. You can’t become what God wants you to be until you belong in a group that’s going to have gut-level, honest community.
So, put away falsehood. Talk to your neighbor. Tell your friend the truth, because we belong to each other.
If you are serious about changing the deepest hang-ups and defects in your life, you’re going to have to face the fear of being honest. You’ve got to stop faking it. You’ve got to be real.
You can go through life one of two ways: pretending like you’ve got it all together or getting it all together. But you’ll never get it all together as long as you pretend you’ve got it all together.
In God’s family, we belong to each other. Let’s be honest with each other so we can help each other make the changes that bring health and healing.
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