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Subject: Be Brutally Hoest With Yourself Author: Eugene [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 22:31:11 08/04/03 Mon Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5:37) When I used to come across this passage, I thought its point is something like "Don't lie¡¨, or ¡§don¡¦t exaggerate¡¨. I didn¡¦t think much of it ¡V I mean, come on, you don¡¦t need to be a Christian and read God¡¦s words to know that lying is bad. Personally, I think the ¡§boy crying wolf¡¨ story gets the point across better than most Sunday school lectures. But then I started to realize that a lot of us Christians really have a problem saying ¡§yes¡¨ and ¡§no¡¨ honestly. Since the Servant Leader material speaks of the matter of the heart, let us have a look at the importance of being honest. ¡§Find the voice of your own heart,¡¨ sounds like new-age psychobabble, doesn¡¦t it? But we have to do it, not for some high theological reason. We have to do it for very practical reasons: We are living in a Chinese, ¡§Christian¡¨ environment. Ever heard the following confession in ¡§church-talk¡¨ time? ¡§Oh, I have procrastinated so much on reading God¡¦s words (or praying, or doing other good work). I really need to shape up spiritually.¡¨ Well, this is a great confession with many rewards (or reinforcement): (1) You have preemptively disclosed a weakness. Now, nobody dears to say anything about the subject ¡V or they may seem impolite, look like a jerk or have to confess worse sins. (2) You also look so Godly humble. Therefore, you can count on nobody to ask you the logically sequential question, ¡§What are you going to do about it?¡¨ Unless you allow your heart to ask you this question, your walking away from God will be like an elephant in the room ¡V every one can see it; nobody dares to admit that. We say that a healthy Christian is not a perfect being, but a truly integrated being. Isn¡¦t it sad that you have to be ¡§polite¡¨ with your own heart? How does it feel when you don¡¦t want to deal with your very self, ¡§cut yourself some slack¡¨, ¡§turn the other way¡¨, and ¡§don¡¦t stir the pot¡¨? We are not yet ¡§perfect as the Father is perfect¡¨, but being honest with ourselves is a good start to better ourselves. When, within ourselves, we pretend to be someone we¡¦re not, we are no where remotely close to the starting point of following Christ. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]