Inconvenient Truth
A few years ago, RJ, the Junior High pastor at our church fractured his ankle while playing with some kids at VBS. He did not know that it was fractured at the time, but he knew that something was not right. He went to a local clinic where they took x-rays and determined that he had fractured his ankle and would need a cast for several weeks. This process was all relatively normal (albeit a bummer) in terms of a fracture and recovery, but things were about to take a turn for the worse. One of the doctors looking at his x-rays noticed something that was not right with the scan of his bone. They told him that he needed to take the images to a specialist because it looked like he had cancer in his ankle bone.
After this initial consultation, he came in for some counsel, and I admit that I balked a bit, "Ankle cancer? Someone made this up to get some money out of you," I quipped. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? I am glad he did not listen to me as, after going to the specialist, they confirmed that he indeed had Ewing Sarcoma (ankle cancer between RJ and I now), a childhood cancer that can affect the bone and even soft tissue of the legs.
Over the next year, RJ battled this disease with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy to eventually overcome the disease that had begun to replicate in his body undetected. He overcame. is doing well, and has a great testimony to tell everyone of how he had cancer, and his pastor did not believe him.
RJ dealt with an inconvenient truth. A truth that, if left unattended, would eventually take his life. Other than the fracturing of his ankle, RJ felt fine. He could have heard the doctors and told them, "I feel fine, so I am just going to live my life!" I am glad he did not. I am so happy he took the advice of his doctors and had the necessary treatments to overcome this disease that almost took his life.
In many places today, the pursuit of truth has become a thing of the past. Most people today seem to want to hear a fantastic lie rather than a harsh reality. The objectives that many in our modern age flock towards are self-gratifying and, in most cases, ignore obvious truths in favor of what feels good. The world around us is in denial of truth because, in many cases, the truth is inconvenient and disheartening.
Think of it this way, when we go to the doctor for a routine checkup or complete physical, they always do the same thing, they take your weight, height, and blood pressure. When you are there, you become very vulnerable. When they tell you to step on the scale, there is no option to lie or justify what the doctor is about to learn.
When you step on the scale at home, you can empty your pockets, take off all of your clothes, weigh yourself, and then try to justify the larger than expected number. We will use various excuses like, "I am retaining a lot of water," "I should have used the bathroom first," or the all too familiar, "I am pretty sure this thing is either broken or not calibrated correctly." When you are at the doctor's office, you cannot do any of that. All is known, all is on display, nothing is hidden, and to be honest, for some, it is a painful lesson in truth.
However, these objective measures help them to determine the underlying causes of different maladies and conditions. They need the truth to diagnose and cure properly.
In many ways, our life reflects this scenario more than we like to admit. Every time we open the Word of God, it is like a mirror that never lies. It is like the scale that is never broken. It will call us to account for how we are living as Christ has called us to live. When we come to the great physician, he can diagnose, prescribe, and treat in the perfect ways. When we come to Jesus, he will always tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear. Our great heavenly physician is never wrong.
But what do we do with the truth that we are told?
As a pastor, I know many people who have come to me asking for direction or advice and then scoffed at the instruction. They do not say it to my face, but you know they did not receive the remedy when they never take the prescribed action. Doctors are often faced with this reality as people hear the cure to their issue and then live as if nothing was said.
In Luke 18:18-23, Jesus does this with the rich young ruler:
And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
This man wanted to inherit eternal life, so he asked the Good Teacher how he could attain it. This man thought of himself as a good person. He thought of himself as a man who had kept the commandments and done all that was necessary to inherit what he desired. The problem was, he did not know he was going to a doctor that would not affirm his righteousness and then could perfectly diagnose the issues of his heart. Jesus told him he still liked something. He put his finger right where it hurt and said, sell all that you have and give it to the poor.
The problem was that this man thought his righteous deeds were enough to guarantee himself eternal life. He believed Jesus was going to high-five him and give him an at-a-boy, but he did not. Jesus pointed out the error in his heart. He showed him, and he shows us that we must be willing to give up everything to be his disciple to inherit eternal life.
In our hyper subjective world where objective truths are more complex and harder to discern, will we as disciples look into the perfect Word of God for our diagnosis, or will we look to the pleasures of this world and subjective feelings as our barometer towards the Kingdom? Will we throw out our scales because we do not like what they say, or will we embrace them to speak the truth our belt already knows. Will we stop going to doctors because of the inconvenient truth that they tell us about unhealthy living and, in doing so, wreak havoc on our future bodies? Will we stop going to church and listening to pastors because they (by the power of the Holy Spirit) are accurately diagnosing the spiritual problems that our hearts have known for too long? Will we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ through the believing and then subsequent action that the Gospel of His Kingdom demands? I pray that we will all be diagnosed by the one who can see all perfectly, and when he shows us our heart, we fall on the throne of grace and beg him to save us? In Psalm 139:23-24, David says: "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" David knew the condition of his heart and invited the Lord to examine it for defects and flaws. He asks the Lord to show him that he will not be in error before a perfect and holy God.
My brother RJ could have walked out of that clinic and told them to give him a cast, and he would be fine in 6 weeks. Had he done that, he would not be here today as cancer would have soon enough engulfed his whole body. He did not ignore the warnings, but he took them seriously, sought the right solution to his illness, and is here today because of his actions.
Dallas Willard said it best: “We don't believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true.”
I pray that our actions will reflect our standing as the disciple of Christ that he calls us to be. I pray that our hearts would desire the truth, no matter how harsh of a reality that might be. And I pray that the God of mercy will continue to show his long-suffering towards us as we strive to be like him.
