Wednesday; August 22


          You know what is more aggravating than obnoxious people who criticize what we do and are mistaken?  While these folks tend to irritate me, I think I get more flustered by obnoxious people who criticize me and are right!  It is tough to be corrected by people who are able to finesse us and encourage us while delivering the bad news, but accurately being told we are wrong by unrefined people is a double-whammy!
          I believe that there are encouraging ways to admonish people – but, I also believe that we need to be willing to accept the truth no matter how it is presented.  We live in a time and place where it appears that truth is a matter of perspective.  Most of us have no trouble believing that truth is truth when it is presented by those we like or those who do so in a positive manner; but when it is delivered by people we don’t like or in a way we don’t appreciate, we tend to feel that it doesn’t have to be believed or accepted.  It almost seems that truth is measured more by the vessel in which it is delivered than by its content.  Folks, the fact of the matter is that truth is truth – whether we like it or not!
          Let’s do our part to practice the New Testament adage of “... speaking the truth in love ...” (Ephesians 4:15), but let’s also be willing to accept the truth no matter how it is presented.  When we don’t accept and live by “truth” we are the ones being hurt by our ignorance.
Think About It!

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