When a man really tells the truth, the truth he tells is that he himself is a liar. ~G.K. Chesterton
Truth: a long-dreaded look in the mirror. (Does this blog post make me look flawed?)
Harsh fluorescent lights cast grey and yellow shadows where yesterday (in the dreamy denial of candle-glow) rosy colors assured me, you’re fine, compared to most.
We’re in the Lenten season, somewhere in the middle. In Lent, we learn to face our flaws without flinching.
We’ve been too easily impressed with the air-brushed versions of us–our eloquence, our god-like wisdom, our mountain-moving accomplishments.
What does the mirror of truth reveal? Freckled impatience, kind-less warts, our envious ear-hair and boastful pores; an arrogant profile, by rudeness puckered, our wrinkly insistence on having our way; irritable ulcers and resentful rashes and our habit of gloating when mirrors were smashed. (1 Corinthians 13:1-6 bathroom-mirror paraphrase).
Now we’re done. God’s made his point. Look away from the mirror with a grateful sigh.
Embrace the truth: God is what we are not. Turn from harsh fixtures to the light of his patient, kind, generous, gentle, forgiving, forbearing eyes.
In his reflection you will find no rejoicing in evil. God only rejoices in truth.
No Longer Afraid Of The Truth
Only those who follow Jesus and cleave to Him are living in absolute truthfulness. Such men have nothing to hide from their Lord. He knows them and has placed them in a state where truth prevails….At the moment of their call Jesus showed up their sin and made them aware of it. Absolute truthfulness is possible only where sin has been uncovered, that is to say, where it has been forgiven by Jesus….It is only because we follow Jesus that we can be genuinely truthful, for then He reveals to us our sin upon the cross. The cross is God’s truth about us, and therefore it is the only power which can make us truthful. When we know the cross we are no longer afraid of the truth.
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) from The Cost of Discipleship)
What’s the truth about you and God? The cross is the only answer you need.
Have you been needlessly afraid of the mirror?
This is post nine of our Lent To Love: A Return to the Source series on 1 Corinthians 13. Join us on the journey to Easter!
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