Rigorous Honesty and the Freedom of Genuine Truth

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This morning I invite you into something simple and bracing. Rigorous honesty. We are talking about genuine truth, the kind Swedenborg describes as wisdom that replaces truths that only looked true when we were younger, truths learned slowly, in the round, through faith and lived experience. I keep coming back to this because ego loves appearances. It postures. It keeps score. It tells us we are either “totally number one” or “totally worthless,” and both are lies that distort our story. We are made in God’s image and likeness, so our worth is settled. Full stop. That frees us to look clearly at the false self, the ego that counterfeits the core, and to admit where we have been changing the narrative to protect it. I see this humility lived out beautifully in the 12-step tradition, where people lead with the truth of their brokenness and discover freedom there. “The problem is my ego,” they say, and suddenly there is space. Space to breathe. Space to say, “You might be right.” Space for genuine truth to do its quiet work. As the Lord teaches, “know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” and freedom begins when honesty stops being an attack and becomes a path home.