{"id":6559,"date":"2020-07-14T19:04:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T09:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2020-07-14T19:11:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T09:11:18","slug":"put-off-deceit-put-on-honesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/put-off-deceit-put-on-honesty\/","title":{"rendered":"Put Off Deceit, Put on Honesty"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The New Man: Part 4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Shery Abdelmalak<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just being honest, it\u2019s not my fault you\ncan\u2019t handle it.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A phrase that claims to be honest but is in fact,\nhurtful, is more deceit than one that doesn\u2019t even try. It may not be, \u201cyour\nfault,\u201d but there is more to being honest than meets the eye. Every spoken word\nhas an element of subjectivity based on an individual\u2019s perspective,\nunderstanding and experiences. You are expressing an opinion but to express it\nas truth can be scrutinised greatly. If love rejoices in the truth, but there\nis a lack of love in your words, can it be inferred that your words are more\nrightly iniquity, rather than truth (1 Cor. 13:6)? Technically, it is your\nfault that someone can\u2019t handle your honesty, because truth is the combination\nof honesty in love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This phrase probably originated from the command, \u201cdo not lie.\u201d But honesty runs deeper than spoken words. Honesty entails love and kindness and could never coexist with deceit. In the end, truth will always be revealed by our gracious Saviour, when it is beneficial and only when we are prepared to receive it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a monk named, Abba Paphnuitus. It is written that he was, \u201cfull of grace that even the renowned and great men of that time admired his gravity and steadfast constancy, and although he was younger in age, yet put him on a level with the Elders out of regard for his virtues\u201d (The Conferences <\/em>by John Cassian, pg. 289) Jealousy grew among his brethren to the extent that they wanted to tarnish his great name through an accusation of wrongdoing. A complaint was brought to Abba Isidore of a stolen book. In a land inhabited by the Cross-bearers, theft was not a common occurrence nor were there set repercussions in place. Abba Isidore ordered the cell of each monk to be searched while they were praying in the church. The book was found in the cell of Paphnutius. When questioned, Paphnutius gave himself up so that peace would be restored and humbly requested a plan of repentance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point in the story, the truth was not made\nknown by Paphnutius. If anything, it appears to be hindered by his words. Paphnutius\u2019\nsole focus was on his surroundings. He wanted to restore peace and cover the\nsin of the one who had committed the crime. The request he made was beyond\nadmirable. Which one of us is not in need of repentance? It is not wrong to\ndefend yourself, but for the one that was focused solely on his inner life,\ndefending himself could never measure up to repentance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we defend our actions, we begin to see the good\nwithin ourselves and in turn, create a niche for pride. We can toss and turn\nand be filled with distress trying, or we can turn to the joy of repentance and\nlet Christ be our defence. At the very least, repentance should be our first\nstep before every action, in that way we guarantee peace. It is no longer I who\nlive, but Christ who live in me (Galatians 2:20). If He wants me to be seen as\na liar, as a thief, as the worst of all sinners, then so be it. Let it be\naccording to His will. I am not my own so how can I be affected by accusations\nbrought against me? All I desire is to be a pen in the Hands of the ready\nwriter of Christ, my Saviour(Psalm\n45:1).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paphnutius began to\nfast three times as often and prostrate at the doors of the church, not\nentering to receive Communion because of the magnitude of his unworthiness.\nAfter 14 days, the monk that had accused Paphnutius became possessed by a demon\nso strong that not even the prayers that guarded Scetes could stop him. No one\ncould exorcize the demon, not even the great Abba Isidore. Our Lord would only\nallow young Paphnutius to exorcize the demon and thus, truth was revealed in\nthe most astonishing way that reached the height of Paphnutius\u2019\nrepentance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For truth, the\nabsolute truth, we need more than words. Fr Matta El Meskeen says, \u201cThe Word is a double-edged sword, but who\nis holding the sword? It is God\u2019s own Word, for which He sacrificed Himself on\nthe Cross to give us eternal life from the midst of darkness and death.\u201d <\/em>Christ\nis the One that bears witness of the truth. When Pilate asked Him what the\ntruth was, He answered nothing, for His coming death and resurrection would\nreveal more than words ever could (John 18:37-38).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the truth can\nonly be revealed through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are assured that its\nimpact will be for our edification and salvation. Until then, may our words\nspeak love, kindness and compassion, while we await the revelation of all truth\nfrom Above. \u201cNothing is secret that will\nnot be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light\u201d <\/em>(Luke\n8:17).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Man: Part 4 By Shery Abdelmalak \u201cI was just being honest, it\u2019s not my fault you can\u2019t handle it.\u201d A phrase that claims to be honest but is in fact, hurtful, is more deceit than one that doesn\u2019t even try. It may not be, \u201cyour fault,\u201d but there is more to being honest … Continue reading “Put Off Deceit, Put on Honesty”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[376,112,340,28],"class_list":["post-6559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-deceit","tag-honest","tag-new-man","tag-truth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6562,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions\/6562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}