I hear people talking a lot about the need to “speak your truth”. What is often meant by this is to be your real self. Don’t conform to the expectations of others, but live and express yourself in a way that is consistent with the way you truly feel.
On the surface this may seem perfectly reasonable. Who wants to be fake? Who desires to live a life simply to please others?
The problem is that “speaking your truth” replaces one false moral compass (man), with another false moral compass—you (still man). Truth is not something we all get to define for ourselves no mater how hard we might try. Truth defined outside of the God of Truth is a delusion and at dissonance with reality.
The truth is that we should not be living our lives according to the expectations of others, nor should we be seeking our own, independent truth (which is delusion). In the Scriptures when we read about “every man doing what was right in his own eyes” it is always a negative expression for man living in disobedience to God. What we need is to think and live according to God’s word. Conform not to the voice of man, whether it come from others or from our own hearts. We need to conform to Christ.
We should not be living to please others, true—but nor should we be living to please ourselves. A truth centered life is a Christ centered life that lives to please Him.
Stop talking about “speaking my truth”, and start “speaking His truth.”
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
—Romans 12:2
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
—John 14:21
One man’s “truth” is another man’s lie. I found this out while in my youth. They thought they were living by the truth of the word of God, but, these people were living by the warped theology of the law being the truth and God’s grace through the precious blood of Christ as being secondary. They also believed the Pastor controlled ALL in the church with the help of deacons and deaconesses and then trustees. In all truth, the pastor was the only one who had any power or “truth” in these churches. What he preached, they believed and held to as God’s “Word” whether it had been twisted to fit his needs or not. He was kind in most of what he preached, but he wasn’t fully scriptural. Things were swept under the rug and people were hurt. To this day many have never fully recovered.