Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40
I’ve always been a big fan of old movies. Even as a teen, I watched movies from the 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1950’s. One of my favorites is Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. Set in Rome, as the title suggests, the plot involves a princess from a foreign country who dutifully fulfills her obligations in each city she visits until she arrives in Rome. No longer able to cope with her role of duty, she escapes the embassy and meets a handsome American who shows her the sights of Rome. In one scene, Gregory Peck sticks his hand into a marble sculpture called the “Mouth of Truth”. According to legend, if you place your hand inside the mouth, this ancient mask of a man’s face has the power to cut off your hand if you are lying. Gregory Peck decides to play a joke on Audrey Hepburn and when he removes his hand from the Mouth of Truth, he cleverly hides his hand in his sleeve. Her scream at seeing his handless arm is totally unscripted and the director included this humorous improv scene in the movie.
On a beautiful, warm day after visiting the Colosseum in Rome, we stopped by a nearby church. Not quite as dark and sinister as depicted in the movie, the Mouth of Truth is built into the church’s exterior wall. Queued up to see this popular tourist site was a line of people, who, all in their turn, were able to stick their hands into the carved mouth and have their photo taken by friends and family. When it was our turn, I tentatively placed my hand into the Mouth of Truth and am happy to report I escaped unscathed.
In today’s society, there is no Mouth of Truth to distinguish truth from lies. How do we discern truth? In particular, how do we learn to live by the truth? What makes up the beliefs and values that guide how we live?
When we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His Spirit becomes real to us. This Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, speaks God’s truth into our lives. When we read the Bible, we have the Spirit to help us understand what we are reading and to help us apply biblical truths to our lives.
Sometimes, perhaps because of the fast pace of life, we sacrifice time with God for other competing priorities. We take shortcuts that end up by-passing time spent in God’s truth. The “herd mentality” creeps in and we start to believe what others around us believe, even what other Christians believe, without taking the time to vet those thoughts and beliefs against Scripture. We are called to know what we believe and why we believe it. This involves careful study of God’s Word with the help of the Holy Spirit.
How much of our Christian “culture” consists of beliefs that we internalize as our own without ever really thinking about what we believe and stacking it up against Scripture? As I go deeper into my own beliefs, exploring with the help of the Spirit of Truth, I’m surprised to find that much of what we believe as Christians really isn’t in the Bible at all. Yet, we hold these beliefs up as truth and allow them to impact our thoughts, words, and actions, often using them to judge other people. I’m not referring to the tenets of the Christian faith, such as Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. But rather, beliefs like “God hates divorce” and “adultery is the only valid reason for divorce”, are among the many beliefs we often hold that are not found in Scripture. Typically, these “untruths” get their start in Bible verses ripped out of context. (Stay tuned for further exploration in future blogs.)
When asked by a Pharisee, one of the religious leaders of the day, what the greatest commandments are, Jesus’ reply in Matthew 22:37-40 was probably pretty startling to His followers and to the Pharisees who were accustomed to their long list of 613 actual rules. Jesus says we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. These are the greatest commandments, the most important truths and guiding principles by which we are to live. Perhaps if we start there, all other true beliefs will fold in under these. Maybe if we keep these two commandments tucked into our hearts and minds, our attitudes and actions would indeed reflect the love of the Triune God and bear witness to the One who is the Living Truth, through His Spirit living within us.
Lord, help me to seek Your truth and grant me wisdom and grace to apply it to my life. Give me the courage and strength to live Your truth out in my life every day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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Text and photograph copyright © 2018 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità), Santa Maria in Cosmedin Church, Rome, Italy.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
I’ve always been a big fan of old movies. Even as a teen, I watched movies from the 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1950’s. One of my favorites is Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. Set in Rome, as the title suggests, the plot involves a princess from a foreign country who dutifully fulfills her obligations in each city she visits until she arrives in Rome. No longer able to cope with her role of duty, she escapes the embassy and meets a handsome American who shows her the sights of Rome. In one scene, Gregory Peck sticks his hand into a marble sculpture called the “Mouth of Truth”. According to legend, if you place your hand inside the mouth, this ancient mask of a man’s face has the power to cut off your hand if you are lying. Gregory Peck decides to play a joke on Audrey Hepburn and when he removes his hand from the Mouth of Truth, he cleverly hides his hand in his sleeve. Her scream at seeing his handless arm is totally unscripted and the director included this humorous improv scene in the movie.
On a beautiful, warm day after visiting the Colosseum in Rome, we stopped by a nearby church. Not quite as dark and sinister as depicted in the movie, the Mouth of Truth is built into the church’s exterior wall. Queued up to see this popular tourist site was a line of people, who, all in their turn, were able to stick their hands into the carved mouth and have their photo taken by friends and family. When it was our turn, I tentatively placed my hand into the Mouth of Truth and am happy to report I escaped unscathed.
In today’s society, there is no Mouth of Truth to distinguish truth from lies. How do we discern truth? In particular, how do we learn to live by the truth? What makes up the beliefs and values that guide how we live?
When we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His Spirit becomes real to us. This Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, speaks God’s truth into our lives. When we read the Bible, we have the Spirit to help us understand what we are reading and to help us apply biblical truths to our lives.
Sometimes, perhaps because of the fast pace of life, we sacrifice time with God for other competing priorities. We take shortcuts that end up by-passing time spent in God’s truth. The “herd mentality” creeps in and we start to believe what others around us believe, even what other Christians believe, without taking the time to vet those thoughts and beliefs against Scripture. We are called to know what we believe and why we believe it. This involves careful study of God’s Word with the help of the Holy Spirit.
How much of our Christian “culture” consists of beliefs that we internalize as our own without ever really thinking about what we believe and stacking it up against Scripture? As I go deeper into my own beliefs, exploring with the help of the Spirit of Truth, I’m surprised to find that much of what we believe as Christians really isn’t in the Bible at all. Yet, we hold these beliefs up as truth and allow them to impact our thoughts, words, and actions, often using them to judge other people. I’m not referring to the tenets of the Christian faith, such as Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. But rather, beliefs like “God hates divorce” and “adultery is the only valid reason for divorce”, are among the many beliefs we often hold that are not found in Scripture. Typically, these “untruths” get their start in Bible verses ripped out of context. (Stay tuned for further exploration in future blogs.)
When asked by a Pharisee, one of the religious leaders of the day, what the greatest commandments are, Jesus’ reply in Matthew 22:37-40 was probably pretty startling to His followers and to the Pharisees who were accustomed to their long list of 613 actual rules. Jesus says we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. These are the greatest commandments, the most important truths and guiding principles by which we are to live. Perhaps if we start there, all other true beliefs will fold in under these. Maybe if we keep these two commandments tucked into our hearts and minds, our attitudes and actions would indeed reflect the love of the Triune God and bear witness to the One who is the Living Truth, through His Spirit living within us.
Lord, help me to seek Your truth and grant me wisdom and grace to apply it to my life. Give me the courage and strength to live Your truth out in my life every day. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want to subscribe to future posts? Click here.
Text and photograph copyright © 2018 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Mouth of Truth (Bocca della Verità), Santa Maria in Cosmedin Church, Rome, Italy.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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