The truth is real and the great truths are constant.
But not everything that is true is appealing.
There are things that are true……..that I don’t like…….that you don’t like. This post is about how we handle the things that are true……..but that bother us. I’m not talking about the little things. It may be true that traffic is congested today. It may be true that it will be moving tomorrow. I’m talking about the big ideas……truths that do not change………truths that guide and shape our lives.
How do we handle ideas that are true that we don’t like?
How do we handle truths that restrict our appetites?
How do we handle truths that tell us that we are wrong?
How do we handle truths that tell us that we are sinning?
For that matter…..what is sin?
The best definition of sin that I have run across is anything that we say, think, or do that separates us from God. We separate ourselves from God when we reject…….or ignore…..the great truths that God has set before us.
And that takes me back to my starting point. What do we do……when we run across a truth that we just don’t like?
I’m a shooter, guns are a hobby that I really enjoy.
But……..guns kill people and destroy things…….that is precisely what they are designed to do.
Women want control of their bodies.
But…….every abortion kills a child. Killing your child is precisely what your abortion is designed to do.
Conservatives want to control the influx of poor people from central America into our country.
But…….the Bible requires us to care for the downtrodden, the soujourner.
Liberals want the freedom to practice sex without restriction.
But……..the Bible prohibits sex outside of heterosexual marriage.
How do we handle these conflicts?
We have two choices:
Ignore /deny the truth and “party on”.
Accept the truth and reconsider our thoughts and actions.
It turns out that, in many ways, the world is a much more complicated place than we want to admit. It is often much easier, much more efficient, to ignore complicated conflicting truths than it is to deal with them. But, if we ignore these complicated, conflicting truths, we wind up living a shallow life. We become caricatures. We accept a shallow, oversimplified, two dimensional cartoonlike identity.
The good news is that we will find ourselves in good company. There are plenty of people who have sorted through these complicated issues…….cooked them down…….thrown out any conflicting truths, and packaged them.
The bad news is that they have shut out any idea that conflicts with “the package”:
The planet is getting warmer.
Every abortion kills somebody.
The bad news is that they demonize anyone who doesn’t sign on to “the package”. And that, in a nutshell, is the situation we find ourselves in with our political system……..and, unfortunately, in our lives.
It all comes down to one question.
What do I accept as my core identity?
Republican
Democrat
Environmentalist
Capitalist
Socialist
Gang member
Christian
Each of these pigeonholes has rules and restrictions. Each has truths that you must accept…….and other truths that you must reject……..or at least ignore. Just try being a pro-life Democrat. Just try being a gun-control Republican.
If you are honest with yourself, you must accept that this is a complicated mess.
I don’t like complicated messes and I don’t like suppressing truths……..even truths that bother me.
I have enough trouble keeping track of my car keys. I don’t have the wherewithall to keep a lid on all of the annoying truth that is out there.
So……….I give in……… I do what everybody else does. I pick a few central truths and focus on those.
The trick is to sort through all of the conflicting truths that are floating around out there……..and to prioritize them. Then, focus on the most important two or three truths in your list of thousands of truths.
For me:
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
You could do worse.
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus, NIV
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
Paul, NIV
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Paul, NIV