Speaking the truth

Monday, January 3, 2011

The answer's simple: Live right, speak the truth, despise exploitation, refuse bribes, reject violence, avoid evil amusements. This is how you raise your standard of living! A safe and stable way to live. A nourishing, satisfying way to live. Isaiah 33:15 (The Message)

I have an odd sense of humor, I’ll admit it. One of my all time favorite cartoons is a Far Side cartoon showing a man looking into the rearview mirror of his car, one that has small print at the bottom which says, “OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.” And all the man can see in the mirror is a very huge eyeball staring at him. That eyeball has, of late, come to symbolize my mortality. Already having outlived the majority of men on my mother’s side of the family going back three generations, I harbor no unrealistic expectations for a long life, but that’s not up to me.

I am constantly reminded of my rapidly diminishing earthly shelf life. Every time I get a little ach or pain, it seems to be more debilitating than the last time I had that same ailment. For me the good thing about being faced more and more with the inevitability of mortality is an increasing sense of frankness. There lies the conundrum, speaking the truth in love and urgency vs being “in yo face” obnoxious with my faith.

One of the problems that I always encounter when talking the truth of my faith is the inevitability of the discussion deteriorating from a personal witness to a political discussion. Those multi-issue discussions usually turn a life changing discussion of faith into a lose, lose, my perspective is more accurate than yours, proposition. One of my goals for this year is to stay out of the arena of political discussions. I really hate to see people ignorant about what is going on in the world and in their own country, but I dislike even more the chance that my “opinions” could result in someone’s turning from the Word because of political or philosophical reasons. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m reassured it will be a much more, “safe and stable way to live.”

Bless you brothers, live this day in peace, in His Word.