Telling the truth always begins with telling it to yourself. Until we have come face-to-face with our own
sin and need and dysfunction, we can never properly enter into the sin and need
and dysfunction of others. There is a
deep humility required—a realization of our own extreme brokenness. That realization creates a right spirit as we
enter into someone else’s pain and struggle.
Unfortunately, throughout
the centuries truth has been used as a weapon, rather than a help. But truth was never intended to bludgeon, it
was meant to love. So telling the truth
should be something that draws, rather than something that repels. Or as Emily Dickinson so beautifully put it, “The
Truth must dazzle gradually.”
Therefore, we must first
live the truth before we run to tell the truth.
The truth must dazzle with our lives before it can dazzle with our
words. That’s why people were so drawn
to Jesus; he embodied the truth he proclaimed.
He was not a living contradiction, and we should not be either.
Dazzle us gradually, Lord Jesus, with your truth, for it is truly beautiful. And once we have been captured by that truth,
give us the wisdom to know how to tell it to others—not only with our words,
but with our lives as well. Amen.
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