I heard a great truth some time ago and it has stuck with me. Here is the truth, “If you believe something that is not true, it will warp your life.” I guess it has stuck with me because I see how it works almost every day. It doesn’t have to be a huge untruth to warp life. Don’t get me wrong. A huge untruth will do the trick. If you believe the person who dies with the most toys wins you are in for a long and bumpy life, not to mention the afterlife. But the sinister untruths are the little ones we tell ourselves. I had someone in my office the other day and he said, “I go to work and every day, all I hear are complaints. Every one complains to me all day long.” He was telling me this as an indirect way of rationalizing his own behavior. He was at the end of his rope and he was telling me why. But, what he told me wasn’t the truth. Not everyone complained. There were some people who said simply, “Good morning,” and went about their day. Why then would he say that “everyone complained” and that they did it “all day long.” Because if he said, “Do you know what happens to me some days Pastor Joe? Sometimes some people complain to me” it wouldn’t do the job he needed it to do. He needed the statement to justify his actions. It seems like just a little thing and yet as I listen to people and listen to myself I see a pattern. We exaggerate when we need a little extra rationalization. “You never listen to me.” “I haven’t bought anything special in long time,” “I never do anything right.” We can use it to avoid responsibility, “That is the best I can do,” “I do everything around here,” “the church doesn’t need me to serve anywhere.” Anyway, I think that is enough for you to get the gist. The more I pay attention the more untruths I notice sneaking in. I find the best way for me to establish perspective is to make sure I am believing what is true. Scripture calls it simply walking in the light. I encourage you to be on the lookout for untruths. We all have them. The fewer you have the less warped you will be. That should make everyone around you a little happier and safer.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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4 comments:
As always, thank you for the insight and your pastoral leadership... at times I feel it is God speaking through you directly to me about a situation I am going through. I love how God can use you to help many of us find calm and peace in the storm... no matter how big or small the storm is.
Joe, I so appreciate the keen insight of this truth. One of my early sarcastic response phrases is "I have told you a million times to quit exaggerating!" The exaggeration is a spin often used by politicians especially if they have no substance and want to obscure the truth while bullying the people. I often challenge people to define their inappropriate statement only to find they cannot deal with the truth. They would rather live in a world of make believe; sometimes it seems they are saying it just to get a reaction. It is a time to count the blessings rather than count the woes, and the blessings always win. Thanks for your caring and sharing. Phillip
God is never glorified when man sets himself up as important. I do not mean that man doesn't matter (he does), but man is not who is important in life. Only God can give us the perspective we need to speak truth and see how very small and insignificant we are. If we are conscious of making God increase and ourselves decrease, we never need to use those kinds of phrases, because the focus ceases to be on us. Focus on Jesus. Make Him the only desirable thing in your life.
Wow, Joe - what a great post! Definitely has caused me to pause and think about how many times I'm guilty of that very thing.
What I just have to ask is how many cups of coffee does it take in the morning to get your brain to think like that at 5am?
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