Is It Time to Tell the Truth?

Sometimes the most profound things come at the least expected times and places.

I was minding my own business going through the line creating the perfect burrito bowl when I heard his voice. It was loud and confident and carried across the restaurant. In fact, when he announced that the man in front of me was receiving $91.08 in change, I feared the customer might get mugged on the way to his car. I mean, who pays with $100 bills these days!

When it was my turn to pay, I was center stage as he announced my shame for all to hear; I had not only had I got a burrito bowl, but chips and a (diet) soda as well. As I grabbed my receipt from him, he told me that there was a number at the bottom of it asking me to give them feedback on my experience.

“When completing that survey, remember that the TRUTH is always helpful.”

It was simple but it stopped me in my tracks. “Yes, you’re right. The truth is always helpful.”

In a world where we want everyone to like us so that we can like ourselves, I am beginning to think that the words of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men have never been more true. We can’t handle the truth.

Think about it. How did you respond the last time someone close to you, whose heart is for you, told you she or he saw something in your life that is of concern. Maybe it’s how you’re spending your money? Maybe it’s how much alcohol you’re drinking or food you’re eating? Maybe it’s about you spending more time at work than with your family? Or maybe it’s that you seem to have time for everything but spiritual disciplines?

I will be the first to say that these conversations are tough for me to hear. In theory, I want to be able to see my sin and turn from it and move back toward Jesus. But in reality, when someone lovingly helps me to try and see this sin, I push back. I defend. I turn on the person. I reconcile it in my mind.

Jesus told his followers that the truth would set them free. The truth of his word. The same is true for us, which is why it is so important to have people in your life who can have these tough conversations with us. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees and the sin in our life begins to completely cloud our judgement. That’s when trusted fellow believers can lovingly tap us on the shoulder and say the hard things - because they love us and they know that the truth is always helpful.

Do you have someone in your life who is willing to be this person? If so, great. And if not, who would be a person or two that could fill this role in your life?