Recently, in some self-evaluation, I’ve realized that I need to be more consistent about honesty. I think I am an overall honest person. But what really gets me is “white lies.” I try to avoid them at all costs, but sometimes they seem unavoidable. Let’s be honest, when your best friend gets a haircut and asks your opinion (and you hate it), are you really going to tell her the honest truth? I think people tend to fudge in that area. I know for me that is one of the difficult ones. A recent example is with food. A good friend of ours made us something and sent it home with us. We came home, tried it, and thought it was horrible! Though we felt guilty, after eating a bite each, we ended up throwing the rest away. We knew they were going to ask how we liked it later. Guess what? We didn’t tell them that we only took one bite and then threw the rest away. It was a tough situation. I think a “Wow, it was really different!” seemed to satisfy them. But really, is that being honest? It’s allowing them to think we liked it without actually saying it.
When I stop and think about it, I am truly amazed about how many “small fibs” we tell or face on a daily basis. When you are downloading something to your computer, it will always ask if you have read and agree to the terms of agreement. I don’t know many people who actually read that mile-long agreement. Most people (myself, included) simply click the box and move on with life. But isn’t that technically a lie? Similarly, many people under age 13 create Facebook profiles and they say that they are 13 or older in order to do it. This particular example is a little more significant, though, in my mind. If a child pretends to be older to get what they want (in this case, Facebook), how can we know that they won’t consider that okay later? When they want tobacco? When they want alcohol? When they want to get into an R-rated movie? Isn’t this technically a lie?
I want to be honest. But I also want to be consistent. I struggle with this, and I wish I could find an answer. Does God really expect me to hurt the feelings of a lady at church when she asks me what I think about her new haircut?
It seems that for the most part, lying is wrong. And it’s black and white. It’s cut and dry. But why does it seem like all of the best characteristics we seek to develop more fully always seem to have some exceptions? Why can’t it be easier?
Based on my conviction that honesty is the best policy and my love for truth, I want to understand a lot of things more fully than I do. There are so many different aspects of Christianity . . . so many different things that are debated and questioned. And just as soon as you think you have come to a firm stance on something, you hear another perspective and you feel just as torn on it as ever before. I want desperately to just know what is right so that I can just do it. I don’t have any bias about what I “want” to be the right thing. I don’t care what is right. I just want to know what it is so that I can obey God and be with Him someday. Why does everything seem so mixed up and so gray at times? When I think about it, I can appreciate the gray-ness. But sometimes I just wish things had been made more clear. More black and white. More cut and dry. More right, across the board. More wrong, across the board. Less exceptions.
Dear God, please give me wisdom. I want so strongly to do what is right. I desire desperately to please You in every aspect of my life. But sometimes I can’t seem to understand what pleases You. I can’t seem to understand what You really want from me. And it can often become so frustrating. Please show me understanding about the many questions I feel like I face on a regular basis. Help me to understand You and Your heart better so that I can better know how to worship You and please You. Teach me the way of Christ more clearly so that I might act more like Him and be more like Him, because there is no doubt that He pleased You. Give me strength to never give up on understanding truth, even though sometimes the murky waters discourage me beyond belief. Instill in me a desire to never give up, but to ALWAYS continue to try to learn and grow and become the woman you want me and have created me to be. Forgive me for any of the wrong convictions that I may have developed that might not be Your desire or may not be pleasing to You. Show me my error so that I may live a life that is as much in Your truth as I possibly can, with Your Spirit’s help. Guide me daily, more into Your will for my life.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
I appreciate your thoughts and your heart. Good read
ReplyDeleteSonny O