Don’t Repeat The Soundbite, Speak The Truth
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.’ (1 Corinthians 13:4-6)
In society today, we live in the ‘soundbite’, or we hear from the news or the pundits we listen to a ‘chirp’ of an affirming message that resonate to our liking. This is true in politics, news reports, sports – all reporting has bias and we tune into what best puts us in agreement. The conservative will listen to Fox News, Newsmax, or OAN; the liberal tunes into MSNBC or CNN. All of them skew the news to the tastes of their listeners, and all in some form or fashion don’t report on Truth as much as they report on the reaction their viewers will have based on feelings. Though it is true that the secularists prefer the liberal news sources, which have been attempting to silence the conservative sources and push feelings as ‘truth’, in many instances the ‘right’ do the same thing, overlooking facts for the sake of stirring feelings.
We all need to be a bit more skeptical in what we are told by our news sources, even if one listens less to the ‘mainstream media’ and more to alternate sources of news. Today the truth is there is a two-tiered justice system, a two-tiered economic system, a two-tiered medical system, and a two-tiered social system; one tier has ‘freedom from prosecution and persecution’, ‘freedom of exploiting greed’, and ‘freedom of hedonistic expression’, while the other tier has no right to express any notions that fly contrary to the first tier.
We Christians unfortunately, are of the latter tier and not the former. Nevertheless, we have what the other tier doesn’t have, Jesus. With Jesus, there is Truth, and with Truth comes true Freedom, and it is still our mission to go and provide Jesus to those who are still trapped in the secular train of thought. Do not despair as the world around us swirls in circles around non-truths, half-truths, and misconstrued truths. We have as our Savior the Truth!
The issue at hand in today’s society is that there are many who, given the title of ‘Subject Matter Expert’ or SME, attempt to prove their expertise by out-smarting their colleagues, and thus have stopped applying the tried-and-true method of empirical data research (practice, evaluate, judge results) and try to apply instead unproven theories based on ‘feelings’. ‘I know this will work based on my observation’ has been replaced with ‘I feel this will work based on my reasoning’. Unfortunately, we have seen this go to the point of ‘men can get pregnant’, ‘this medication should resolve this’, and other ‘edicts’ that have caused great turmoil. This is the opposite of what Paul provides in 1 Corinthians 13; these ‘SMEs’ are not patient, are envious and proudly boast of their ‘achievements’ no matter how wrong or harmful they may cause.
But Paul provides what we as Christians should do, to set examples to those who are of the ‘secular SME’ mindset. We should not boast of what we do, nor should we be jealous or envious of what others accomplish – especially in the name of Jesus. We should never repay evil for evil, but try to use Truth to change those who are trapped in the secular Worldview, without any finger pointing or ‘knocking them down to size’. Instead, we need to lift them above that which they perceive as ‘truth’ so that they can see the Truth. When they find the Truth, we rejoice with them; when they turn from it, we must patiently pray for them. We do this not for our edification, but for theirs.
If we as Christians resolve to pray, stay in fellowship with our Lord and do what He asks of us, I believe we can make a difference, and have people come back to the Truth. We must confront evil, not with evil, but with Truth.
