"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." It seems no one wants to hear the truth these days. Our culture today does not like Truth, and people who speak the truth are usually made fun of or painted as radicals. We are told to always, "Speak the truth in love." What does it mean to speak the truth, and who defines what Truth is? True Truth is found in the word of God. If we are looking for it any other place, we are looking in the wrong place. It seems like today, though, anyone who dares speaks the truth, they are crucified and vilified for it.
I always want the truth, but sometimes I don't like hearing it. The truth sometimes can be painful, and other times it can be liberating. Sometimes, I ask my husband if something I have on looks good on me. I want him to answer me truthfully. I don't want to wear something that does not flatter me. If he says, "No," I have to be willing to hear the truth. Afterall, I asked for it. I need people in my life who will love me enough to tell me the truth. If I have done something to hurt someone, or if I have acted in a way I should not have, I need someone to tell me. How else can I correct something unless someone is willing to be honest with me? Sometimes, people in our culture ask for our opinions, and when we answer truthfully, they get angry. If they did not want to know the truth, why did they ask?
When I was teaching, I used to hear all kinds of excuses for not doing homework or turning in projects on time. I had one student whom a lot of teachers just did not care for. He definitely had a reputation, but what I appreciated about this student was he never made an excuse for not doing his work. He would walk into class and say, "Mrs. Nance, I didn't do the homework." Sometimes, he would even say, "I just did not feel like doing it." This student was actually a very bright student more than capable of doing any assignments given, but he just chose not to do them. I always appreciated his honesty. How refreshing it would be today if people in positions of leadership would just tell the truth!
There are many troubling things going on in our world today. The only way that we will be able to deal with them is with honesty and respect. We have to be willing to hear the truth no matter how painful that may be to get to the solutions. I have learned in my life denying and "sweeping things under the carpet," so to speak, will never make issues go away. It is just delaying having to deal with them. For real change to happen, we first have to be committed to truth.
Truth can sometimes be hard to handle. I have often wondered what Moses thought when God told him he would not enter the Promised Land because he had disobeyed. Was he hurt? Was he disappointed? Because David did not deal with truth and reality in his family, his family suffered greatly. How many times did the Isaerelites suffer consequences because they chose not to believe the truth? Not dealing with reality has a way of bringing a lot of pain.
I want to be a lover of truth. I pray as I live out this year that I have a love for the Truth, not man's truth, but God's. His Truths provide freedom and grace. Anything else is just a sham. The author of untruth loves when we don't demand the truth. We play right into his hands. I have said before, and I will repeat, I never want to be an instrument of him. May God always give me a heart for Truth.
Blessings,
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
A Different Perspective
One of my all time favorite books is To Kill a Mockingbird, and one of my favorite lines in the book is when Atticus, the father, is trying to get Scout, his daughter, to see things from a different perspective. He tells her, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Perception is a person's reality. It may not be true reality, but it is their reference point, and it is harder sometime to change perception than to accept reality.
Growing up I thought that my mother showed favortism to one of my siblings. In my mind that was reality, and no matter how many times my mother told me it was not true, I did not believe it. In my perspective, it was reality. It wasn't until I was an adult with children of my own that I finally saw and understood things from my mother's point of view.
The Pharises saw Jesus as a threat to everything they had been taught. It was their perception, but it was not the true reality. They could not accept that Jesus came to bring them freedom and truth. It was reality, but their perception clouded their reality. They did not see the true Messiah that they had been promised when He stood right in front of them.
We live in a world today where it is difficult to see the reality of most things. We pass ideas, people and culture through the lenses of our perceptions, and when we do that we fail to recognize Truth--God's Truth. Our culture today wants us to believe that there are no universal truths, but that is contrary to everything that the Bible teaches. What would our world look like if we put away our perceptions and looked at situations and people honestly and realistically--if we put ourselves in others' shoes for a moment and tried to understand how they see things because how they see things is their reality for that moment. If we did that, maybe there would be more understanding and love in this world, and maybe then we would start working together instead of working against each other.
I want to make a concerted effort this year to put myself in someone else's shoes before I make a judgment about him/her. Too often, I judge before seeing things from their perspective. Hopefully, others will do the same with me before they make a judgment about me. It really goes back to the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you..
Blessings,
Growing up I thought that my mother showed favortism to one of my siblings. In my mind that was reality, and no matter how many times my mother told me it was not true, I did not believe it. In my perspective, it was reality. It wasn't until I was an adult with children of my own that I finally saw and understood things from my mother's point of view.
The Pharises saw Jesus as a threat to everything they had been taught. It was their perception, but it was not the true reality. They could not accept that Jesus came to bring them freedom and truth. It was reality, but their perception clouded their reality. They did not see the true Messiah that they had been promised when He stood right in front of them.
We live in a world today where it is difficult to see the reality of most things. We pass ideas, people and culture through the lenses of our perceptions, and when we do that we fail to recognize Truth--God's Truth. Our culture today wants us to believe that there are no universal truths, but that is contrary to everything that the Bible teaches. What would our world look like if we put away our perceptions and looked at situations and people honestly and realistically--if we put ourselves in others' shoes for a moment and tried to understand how they see things because how they see things is their reality for that moment. If we did that, maybe there would be more understanding and love in this world, and maybe then we would start working together instead of working against each other.
I want to make a concerted effort this year to put myself in someone else's shoes before I make a judgment about him/her. Too often, I judge before seeing things from their perspective. Hopefully, others will do the same with me before they make a judgment about me. It really goes back to the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you..
Blessings,
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