My Problem With the Truth

So this post is about me listing everything I’ve ever done wrong and divulging all of my secrets…..just kidding, that would take far too long and I’m sure nobody wants to hear that.  So already only one sentence into a story about the truth I told a big fat lie.  Going forward from here I’ll do my best to as the kids say, keep it real.

“The truth will set you free” is an often used phrase that I’ve really been struggling with lately. The problem I have with it is that those words aren’t always applicable and are in fact sometimes completely opposite of what is perceived as being true.

 Many people recognize the quote from the Bible when Jesus said in John 8:31-32 “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  In the Bible Jesus is referring to himself  as the capital T "Truth".  Something I agree with, but won't be talking about much in this post because I'm talking about the ever important "truth" as used in. "tell the truth."The phrase has also more often been used in variations outside the context of a strictly Christian application.  Just a few real examples are a commercial campaign for STD testing, a Facebook page about extraterrestrials and paranormal conspiracies, and a bunch of movies, probably most notably in Liar Liar. So it’s definitely fair to say that the phrase is open to interpretation primarily depending on the context in which it’s used.

I’m going to talk about it as it relates to matters of the heart, and in the way that’s been keeping my brain from shutting off even when I’m trying to relax. That happens to be supes annoying as I rank relaxing high in my priorities list. In case you’re about to tune out because you think I’m going to preach…don’t.  I’m just a guy working through some stuff that I think you might relate to and will hopefully be helpful.

I’ve been watching the news a lot lately and the sheer volume of heartbreaking stories is, well heartbreaking. There is a constant stream of reports on violence, refugees, poverty, disease, war and dark predictions of increases in all of those areas. The news actually finds a way to double it all up by not only showing the stories, but also scrolling equally bad stories along the bottom so you don’t miss one single awful thing. When I’m watching television, to get my mind off of it I’ll switch the channel to some sort of escape like sports, people buying things out of a rigged storage locker, rich people/celebrities judging other people who are neither of those things, or happy people flipping houses in exotic locations. If I’m on the internet I might click off of CNN and on to a video of a pig snuggling with a kitten or a tiny hedgehog getting belly rubs.  Not that there’s anything wrong with videos of any adorable animal, but my point is I’m trying to escape. I’ve tried to switch the gears in my mind a lot of directions so I’m not constantly focused on the things in the world that I’m not sure how to make better. I don’t like a lot of what’s true about the world right now. There are a lot of things that are dark, depressing, desperate, scary, and a great number of other adjectives that can’t be exactly described as freeing. In these cases the truth hasn’t set me free, instead it leaves me feeling convicted. It makes feel like I want to do something to make it better, but it’s just too big. I sometimes find it easier to block it out of my mind and heart so that maybe I just take a jab to the gut  of general awareness instead of a taking a knockout blow of total understanding of the gravity of the situation to the face.

I’m not a stranger to letting things impact me emotionally in a way that moves me to action. I have a little bit of a history in outreach and have found myself in different places around the world with amazing people who are trying to help other people and animals. But I’m also not a stranger to looking the other way, not letting people get too close, tell me too much, or just acting to busy, self-involved, or behaving like my needs were the most important needs in the world. I’m not saying this as a judgement, but I’ve heard people actually say “I can’t visit an elderly home because it will hurt me too bad if someone dies” and “ I really can’t bring myself to feed the hungry, because seeing homeless kids breaks my heart.” Again, this isn’t something that I haven’t also seen in myself when I reflect and realized  I’ve looked the other way because I wanted to build a wall and protect my heart on more than one occasion. I am fully aware how much a participant in putting on blinders to problems I think are too draining to try to fix.

So what good comes from being moved anyway? Aren’t we just better off if we isolate ourselves and don’t let our hearts get broken? Why love or care for anything if ultimately is cause heartache? Can I even do anything to make a difference and if I can’t why should I try? If I try to help what good will it do if nobody helps me?

These aren’t just dumb questions or a setup for some perceived masterful gotcha writing device reveal where I say how ridiculous those thoughts are and then suddenly you see my point. The reality is that they are questions I’ve personally wrestled with way more times than I can count.

 At the end of all that wrestling though I almost always find that the decision to not open your heart to love and care for others because I don’t want to become emotionally invested is the wrong choice.  I feel like we were designed to love and be moved for things beyond our own pursuits and interest. I personally want to do better to find a way to be okay being hurt, or scared if ultimately it means someone feeling loved and protected. I want to be someone willing to change the world and not just be a bystander unwilling to help and just hoping I’m never in their position. I think it’s better if we learn to not be afraid to show or tell someone how much we love and care about them. There isn’t a way to know if risking our pain for someone else will make a difference, but that isn’t a reason to not take the chance in making things better or to acknowledge how you feel fully. I don’t think it serves us to let it go or pretend not to feel moved. Heartbreak I think is probably a pretty good indicator that we are deeply connected and passionate about the person/people/causes that brought  that tight feeling in our chest and the tears in our eyes about in the first place. Our reason to make the decision to help the widow, the prisoner, or the orphan is because we are doing it for them and not for ourselves and that will undoubtedly be difficult sometimes.

So the truth might not always be pretty, and recognizing it doesn’t always give us freedom, but I think taking action in regard to the truth does.  While this blog wasn’t written just for Christians I did reference a scripture in the beginning in which Jesus instructed his disciples to follow his teachings to find the truth. What I find most compelling and easiest to share in what he taught and his ministry was how he taught us to actively love those in need. Christian or not I think allowing ourselves to actively open our hearts and help others even if it isn’t easy, is a great way to start to feel free.