Do We Really Need a Sword?

Why do we hold onto lies as tightly as we do, for as long as we do? Why does it take a sword, an instrument of blood and violence and death, to separate us from the darkness of our comfortable deceptions?

Perhaps because lying is the only way to get the approval of man…

From Martha’s booklet, Do You Love Me? (p. 15):

“I see that if we love the love of man, we use four methods to get it.

“One is goodness. We try to be so good that we will be loved. Since no one is innately good, you have to resort to lying when you try to be good.

“The next one is that you try to be pitiful. That takes a lie, too. It means that you have to exaggerate your troubles.

“Another method we try is to be important. You have to lie there, too, because nobody is really important except to God.

“And then, there is rebellion. I have learned that some people rebel to get attention, because attention feels like love. And most everything we do, including rebellion, is an expression of the need for love.

…

“See? When you love the love of man, you WILL have to lie. And the most devastating thing is that you lie to yourself.” 

When I first heard a sermon about the call to “love not the world,” I was pretty young, and it’s not terribly surprising that I thought that “the world” only referred to the bad people who liked to be bad and weren’t sorry. How hard could that be, right? When I began to comprehend the true scope of that call, however, I despaired more than a little. Sometimes “the world” is family and friends. Sometimes it’s your church. It’s one thing to turn away from people you’ve never met and don’t know and aren’t invested in, but what happens when you realize that the call is coming from inside the house? I don’t know about any of you, but I was pretty sure that I couldn’t do it. And I was right. It took a sword.

If we will sell our souls bit by bit for a mimicry of love, then we’re not going to be able to let go without an intervention. Enter the sword.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:12-13 NKJV

A miracle takes place when the Word of God – the Truth! – is received. The Holy Spirit goes to work in ways mysterious and an actual change of heart occurs. When we are cut by the Truth, that cut echoes in the very heavens. The legions of lies are dealt a blow and Light gains new ground. And it can only be done by the sword.

We were created to love and to be loved, and we’ll give an account on both of those scores. The Light of Truth is at work to sever the web of lies built to feed our need for love—or anything that feels like it. And that is a violent, bloody work that requires a sword.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command.
Matthew 22:37-38 HCSB