Why Should I Listen to You?

Suggested Reading: Exodus 2:1-15

I love politics but I hate talking about it with other people. I am very opinionated and I don't deal well with intellectual dishonesty when I think it exists. One of my biggest pet peeves, when having a discussion with someone who has been shown to have their facts wrong, is the response,  "Well, your side acts just like my side" in an attempt to dismiss the facts by discrediting the messenger. The tendency to avoid the message by focusing on the messenger is not new or limited to politics. There is an excellent example in the book of Exodus.

In Exodus 2, Moses encounters two Israelites fighting. Moses asks the one in the wrong, "Why are you attacking your neighbor?" But instead of dealing with the issue, the one in the wrong asks, "Who are you? Are you going to kill me like you did the Egyptian the other day?" (Exodus 2:13-14, HCSB). Now, Moses had, in fact, killed an Egyptian while defending an Israelite a few days before but that is really irrelevant for the wrong-doer in this case. This man was attacking his neighbor and was called on it. His response was to discredit Moses rather than deal honestly with the situation. 

The attacker's reaction is actually very normal. Human beings, by nature,  try to avoid the truth at all costs and, if we have to belittle, discredit, or attack someone else to avoid dealing with the truth, then we will do it.  We've all done it. Our spouse shares a concern about our behavior and we lash out by listing all of their faults instead of dealing with the issue. Our friends tell us that we are acting selfishly, so we go through a litany of every time they have acted selfishly. The preacher's sermon on integrity convicts us so we think about all of the corrupt people that we know or nitpick the preacher's life to make ourselves feel better.

The only problem with this strategy is that we never deal with the issues in our lives, so we never grow. Often, we move backwards because we have justified our behavior, and we allow ourselves to slip a little farther.  We choose to live in darkness rather than walk in the light of truth, exposed and vulnerable, yet able to grow.  1 John 1:5-8 tells us that fellowship with God requires that we walk in the light. We cannot grow or conquer the sin in our lives if we refuse to face the truth. And we cannot wait for the perfect messenger before finally listening to the message. 

When we face criticism or loving concern, are we able to look past the messenger to the message? Or do we know  that the criticism is true and avoid it by discrediting its source? The next time you find yourself going through the list of everything someone has done wrong, ask yourself "Why?". Is there something you're avoiding? If so, take courage, breath a deep breath, and step into the light of truth. It will set you free.

Living in the Light with Jack Nicholson

Suggested Reading: Luke 2:22-35

In the Tom Cruise movie, A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson takes the stand to testify in a case of marine misconduct, as the commanding general at the base where a marine was abused and died. Cruise’s character believes the general ordered the “code red” on the now deceased marine and is trying to defend the accused abusers on the basis that they were following orders. So Nicholson ends up on the stand while his character is poked and prodded with questions and inconsistencies about the official story of the marine’s death. When Cruise’s character demands the truth, we hear the now infamous line, “You can’t handle the truth!” Nicholson, ultimately believing that ordering the code red was the right thing to do, outs himself in a fit of righteous indignation because Cruise had poked and prodded until Nicholson’s core was exposed.

Simeon, the elderly man who prophesied over Jesus as Mary and Joseph brought him into the temple complex declared, This child is destined…to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed (Luke 2:34-35, NIV). Jesus came to upset destiny and be rejected, but he did so in order to expose our hearts. Something about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection pokes and prods us until our cores are exposed, until the sinful nature in our hearts is brought to light.

All of us have hidden areas of our heart that we don’t want to admit are there: bitterness toward someone who hurt us years ago, jealousy towards that person has everything we want, cruelty we try to never let out but lurks there just the same, anger that we’ve allowed to fester because we want to be angry at what was done to us, selfishness we try to disguise with lofty-sounding justifications. Those things lurk in all of our hearts but we can never deal with them properly until they are exposed to the light.  1 John 1:7-8 reads, But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth (NLT). Living in the light means that we allow ourselves to be exposed. We allow the deepest darkest parts of us to be brought out into the light to be dealt with. Pretending those things don’t exist or hiding them means we are avoiding the light.

One of the purposes of Jesus’ mission to earth was to expose our hearts so that we could have all of the filth removed. Being exposed like that can be extremely frightening. At times, it can hurt to have all of the things we have worked so hard to bury ripped out into the open. But we must be willing to face the darkness in our hearts in order to root it out and be rid of it. Are you willing to let Jesus poke and prod you until you are exposed? Will you allow him to shine a light on those dark places in your heart that you have tried so hard to keep hidden? The process may not be pleasant, but the end result will be a life exposed to the light without shame.