If you know the truth about yourself, it does not matter what anyone else thinks about you.

Like a good hockey game, the discussion was swirling around, taking off on a new course every few minutes, changing direction instantly, darting here and there, everyone involved either listening attentively or speaking fervently, all without rancor or nastiness.

We were deep into a conversation about deception, fear, lies, truth, and the situation of the world we call home. We, meaning a small group of people I meet with on a regular basis trying to sort out what is happening around us and the best ways to respond to it at our own personal levels. Of course. How could it be otherwise?

Anyway, as I was sitting there taking it all in, sometimes making a comment but mostly listening, an inspiration came to me and I made the following observation.

Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” The question is, what are we freed from? One of the most obvious answers to that question is fear. We will be made free from fear. He also said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…” Now, if the truth makes us free from fear and Jesus is the Truth, then He must be the most fearless entity within the entire universe, literally afraid of nothing. As His followers, as we advance closer and closer to the truth about ourselves and our relationship to God, we should become increasingly fearless and unafraid of other people, circumstances, or what the future might bring.

Satan, on the other hand, is the consummate liar. Jesus described him this way in John 8:44. “He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” If the truth makes us free from fear and there is no truth at all in Satan, then he must be the most fearful entity in all creation, a veritable bundle of twitching, trembling nerves, literally afraid of everything. His followers, as they become more closely aligned with his program and image, must inevitably become like him, more fearful.

Why? What are they so afraid of? My answer to this is that they have bought into a lie and they are living in it. The more resistant they are to the truth, the more determined they hang onto the lie. They are terrified of admitting that they are wrong. They are afraid to change the way they think, do, and live. They are probably quite concerned about their own public image, the way other people view them, and cannot be seen as having a weakness which must be corrected. They are most especially afraid of being exposed as living a lie.

They, like Satan, are afraid of being found out.