May 12, 2020
Let me be (brutally) honest with you... the truth hurts sometimes. But “honesty is the best policy”. There are a LOT of quotes and sayings about truth and honesty. I think the question to ask ourselves is, do we really practice honesty or just “honesty”? Are we mean when we finally get “fed up” and spew out the truth about how we feel? Or are we kind and gentle and say things like “I’m sorry if this hurts your feelings, but...”? While it is very important to tell the truth to others, it is equally important not to lie to ourselves. Running from the truth amounts to lying and rarely ends well for the runner. Things never end well when we act like Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind”. (“Oh, Rhett, I’ll think about that tomorrow.”) The truth was heading straight for Scarlet's door and she needed to stop “burying her head in the sand” and be prepared. I remember when I learned what “lying by omission” means. I neglected to tell my mom and dad that I had “forgotten to” drop a college class before the deadline even though I had stopped going to it. When my grades came in the mail (how old fashioned is that?) my parents were really mad! I hadn’t outright lied about the situation, I had just failed to mention it. (They never asked me if I was going to Computer Science.) That “F” wreaked havoc on my GPA. In my defense, dropping a class was a little harder back then. You couldn’t just click your mouse. There were forms to be picked up and filled out and professors to be dealt with. (And that professor scared me.) So... dig hole, insert head. This was also my most remembered lesson on procrastination. (which is kind of another form of lying, by avoiding reality) but that’s a whole other blog topic. So, why do we lie (or fib, or bend the truth or color the facts)? Usually because we’re afraid. And fear is the greatest liar of all. Fear is Satan’s way of ruining lots of things. He uses it to steal our peace of mind. He puts fear there to separate us from God and cause us to doubt our faith. He uses fear to ruin relationships and squander perfectly good days worrying about tomorrow. So, how do we fight fear? Not with a shovel and a hole. Not with Nikes. (no hiding and no running) We fight fear with faith. Satan hates faith. Faith is to fear as water is to fire. Our faith and strength to face our fears comes from God and these things are built up through spending time with Him and with practice. When it’s time to put out the fires of fear, we need a fire hose not a 10 cent water gun. The more we exercise our faith and trust in God the easier it is to extinguish fear. That’s why many times the people who have been through the most, have the strongest faith. Hebrews 11 is a chapter in the Bible with a literal list of things that have been accomplished when people had faith in God. If God can help Noah build the ark and use Moses to part the Red Sea surely we can trust Him to get us through our hard times and help us fix our problems. Hebrew 11:1-3 says this: “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. Men of God in days of old were famous for their faith. By faith—by believing God—we know that the world and the stars—in fact, all things—were made at God’s command; and that they were all made from things that can’t be seen.” Have faith! Smile and be joyful!
Let me be (brutally) honest with you... the truth hurts sometimes. But “honesty is the best policy”. There are a LOT of quotes and sayings about truth and honesty. I think the question to ask ourselves is, do we really practice honesty or just “honesty”? Are we mean when we finally get “fed up” and spew out the truth about how we feel? Or are we kind and gentle and say things like “I’m sorry if this hurts your feelings, but...”? While it is very important to tell the truth to others, it is equally important not to lie to ourselves. Running from the truth amounts to lying and rarely ends well for the runner. Things never end well when we act like Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind”. (“Oh, Rhett, I’ll think about that tomorrow.”) The truth was heading straight for Scarlet's door and she needed to stop “burying her head in the sand” and be prepared. I remember when I learned what “lying by omission” means. I neglected to tell my mom and dad that I had “forgotten to” drop a college class before the deadline even though I had stopped going to it. When my grades came in the mail (how old fashioned is that?) my parents were really mad! I hadn’t outright lied about the situation, I had just failed to mention it. (They never asked me if I was going to Computer Science.) That “F” wreaked havoc on my GPA. In my defense, dropping a class was a little harder back then. You couldn’t just click your mouse. There were forms to be picked up and filled out and professors to be dealt with. (And that professor scared me.) So... dig hole, insert head. This was also my most remembered lesson on procrastination. (which is kind of another form of lying, by avoiding reality) but that’s a whole other blog topic. So, why do we lie (or fib, or bend the truth or color the facts)? Usually because we’re afraid. And fear is the greatest liar of all. Fear is Satan’s way of ruining lots of things. He uses it to steal our peace of mind. He puts fear there to separate us from God and cause us to doubt our faith. He uses fear to ruin relationships and squander perfectly good days worrying about tomorrow. So, how do we fight fear? Not with a shovel and a hole. Not with Nikes. (no hiding and no running) We fight fear with faith. Satan hates faith. Faith is to fear as water is to fire. Our faith and strength to face our fears comes from God and these things are built up through spending time with Him and with practice. When it’s time to put out the fires of fear, we need a fire hose not a 10 cent water gun. The more we exercise our faith and trust in God the easier it is to extinguish fear. That’s why many times the people who have been through the most, have the strongest faith. Hebrews 11 is a chapter in the Bible with a literal list of things that have been accomplished when people had faith in God. If God can help Noah build the ark and use Moses to part the Red Sea surely we can trust Him to get us through our hard times and help us fix our problems. Hebrew 11:1-3 says this: “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. Men of God in days of old were famous for their faith. By faith—by believing God—we know that the world and the stars—in fact, all things—were made at God’s command; and that they were all made from things that can’t be seen.” Have faith! Smile and be joyful!
A song that speaks truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1srs1YoTVzs
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