Letters from Kazakhstan #2

Letters from Kazakhstan 2

While here in Kazakhstan I am finding a lot of time to read, some good fiction along with some really thought provoking Christian authors.  I am currently reading “The Importance of Being Foolish; How to Think Like Jesus” by Brennan Manning.  While I don’t always agree with Manning, his books are always thought provoking none the less.

I was reading the first chapter entitled “The Way We Live” and Manning points out that Christ had a relentless passion for the truth.  Then he directs us to think about our society in which the truth is often hard to find.  This made me think about a line from A Few Good Men, “You want the truth, you can’t handle the truth.”  I believe this is where we have found ourselves.  We say we want the truth but when it, the truth, goes against what we want to do, we choose to ignore it and do what we want to anyway.  We rationalize our behavior in disregard to what we know is Biblically correct.  To steal a little more from Manning’s book;

“Consider the man on his third luncheon martini quoting the Apostle Paul about a little wine being good for the stomach; or the “liberated” Christian’s vehement defense of the nudity in The Last Tango in Paris, the violence in Pulp Fiction, because they are “integral to the plot and tastefully done”; or the upstanding church deacon who overlooks cheating and manipulation in his business dealings because “it’s the only way to be competitive”; or whole churches in which the delirium of guiltlessness is reality, the mastery of biblical exegesis is holiness, the size of the congregation is proof of its authenticity, and on and on.  There is no limit to the defenses we contrive against the inbreak of truth into our lives.”

WOW, I find that harsh but the truth none the less.  The truth is a powerful thing, it can change lives and bring us closer to God but for it to have impact we must be willing to accept it and make changes accordingly.  We can’t cheaply purchase the affections of God with token lip service, He paid too high a price for our salvation for us to make the truth relative.  I believe I can sum it all up with this statement, either we love God and embrace His truth or we don’t love Him at all.  If you fall pick yourself up and embrace the truth once more, we all fall and make mistakes but to live in denial or to constantly justify our actions is playing games with the grace bought with a precious price.

Be encouraged and seek out truth, your life will be better and you might just find more peace.

Grace and Peace

Youth Pastor C