I think you must be a hermit if you have got through life without knowing a lie has been told about you. It can be the most traumatic time for you. When someone is speaking lies about you or when they believe things about you that are not true it can send you into real anxiety. These next verses reveal that Paul knew that lies were being spoken about him.
“I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (Galatians 5 v 10-12)
We don’t know if Paul knew the person who was spreading the lies. But it is interesting that though he knows of the false teachers that actually there is one particular person where the lies originate from. There is usually the one person fuelling the lies. Maybe they are not known by anyone but the lie can be traced back to that person. Paul has heard the lie. Incredulously it is that he is preaching circumcision as the need for Christians to prove their salvation. It hurts when the lie is sitting close to the truth but is 100% not the truth.
Paul is not far from the Lord. It is the only way through the lies to stay close to Him who knew also this experience of being lied to. In Luke 23 the lies about Jesus were that he was subverting their nation, opposing payments of taxes to Caesar, claiming to be the Messiah and stirring up the people all over Judea by his teaching. Again the lie is sitting close to the truth but it isn’t the truth. You can see elements that are true but they are packaged in lies. Distorting the truth. Misrepresenting the accuracy of the situation. It is what the father of lies specialises in. All that needs to happen is to convince others to see just a glimpse of the accusation and then the lie has worked.
Here is what I have come to believe:
- What is spoken against you is not as established as it may look.
- What is spoken to you about someone else is not the evidence of the reality.
- The lie against you can lead you into the destiny God has for you, it can become a servant.
- It takes wisdom to dissect a lie.
- It takes courage to walk through a lie.
I have found the above 5 statements of great comfort to me.
How does Paul handle this lie?
- He has evidence for the truth. There are times when you cannot go round your world trying to rectify the lies that have been spoken. It is then that to copy Jesus is what you must do and be silent, let the liars have their day. There are moments when what you say is not as important as what is being said about you. Resist all attempts to defend yourself. You have nothing to hide. Your attitude becomes, “Let the liars speak. I serve the ‘I am the Way, the TRUTH and the Life’.” But if you are given the opportunity which Paul has then take it to set out the truth clearly. I’ve got proof. That’s what Paul says. He points to the fact that he has evidence that he can show them of his persecution for holding to a non-performance salvation message! If he was teaching circumcision as a need then why is he also being persecuted for teaching the opposite? A convincing argument!
- Secondly and soberly, hand the person over. Hand the liar to the Lord for they will pay the price for such maliciousness. There’s nothing more to say about that. It’s a dangerous thing to mirror the devil.
Finally, you can get past this lie. That’s what you must hold on to. You walk in the light and you serve the TRUTH. He has you. He is not anxious about the lie being told about you. I hope that brings comfort to someone today.
Missions Paul 