Zechariah 8:3 -- On A City of Truth

"Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain."
Zechariah 8:3


This is about the last days/Second Coming, and there are a lot of cool and interesting things in this chapter. The one that I was thinking about when reading this is the "city of truth" part. Later in the chapter it says "Speak ye every man truth to his neighbor" (verse 16) and talks about not imagining evil against our neighbors (verse 17), and I was thinking, what would it be like to live in a "city of truth?"

I feel like falsehood is so pervasive now... it's hard to know who is telling the truth, and even when you aren't hearing lies, sometimes the truth is so skewed that it results in deception anyway. It's significant that God is "a God of truth" (Isaiah 65:16, Ether 3:12, Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalm 31:5), and that his glory is "light and truth" (D&C 93:36).  As we work to become like him, and learn how to live in a Zion society, we need to learn how to become people of truth.

How can we embrace the truth more in our lives.  Are there ways that we can be clearer and kinder in our communication?  For instance, instead of lying and saying nothing is wrong, could we ask for more time to process something, or are there ways of de-escalating our emotions so that we don't say things that we don't really believe "in the heat of the moment" when we are angry or otherwise emotionally compromised?

Today, let's work on being people of truth as we worship the God of truth and strive for a truth-filled future. :)