"The
truth shall set you free." [John 8:31-42]
In my heart
and in my brain, I know that. But there is a disconnect. Jesus’ words also made me think of Jack
Nicholson’s line in A Few Good Men: “You can’t handle the truth,” which is
spoken in a tense courtroom scene. And I
wonder if I’m somewhere in the middle of those two thoughts.
I know the
truth will set me free. I know I’m held
back by my own unwillingness to accept that I can’t lie to myself. The truth won’t set me free if I try to get
around what I know to be true. If I
think I can think poorly of someone, if I think I can get away with feeling
better at someone’s expense, if I try to skirt what I know I should be doing in
my prayer life and the rest of my life. I
know the truth. And I know how accepting
the truth can set me free. I’m a flawed
and broken person as we all are. God
loves me the way I am. I’ve become a
slave to sin, to the easy way, to things that momentarily make me feel better
but do not offer consolation.
I think I
sometimes feel I can’t handle the truth that God loves me because of my flaws
and my brokenness. But He does. Like the people in John’s gospel grappling
with the ideas Jesus presented, I look for loopholes or other explanations. I need to remain in the word of God and truly
be a disciple. I can see the truth that
I can pay attention to the large and small things every day where I know I can
do the right thing. I can look for and
choose those “Holy Moments” in life. I
know that truth will set me free. And I
know that I can handle that truth with God’s help.
God of
all Truth, Your Word is liberating, transforming and fills us with hope. May I turn my mind to You and to Your holy
Word so that I may know the Truth as You speak it and allow that transforming
Truth to set me free. Jesus, I trust in
You.
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