Stumbling About for Truth

Don't you know that happiness is not the point? It can't be. Why? Because happiness changes with circumstances. What (or who) you are happy with today, can, and probably will, change tomorrow. You've heard the old saying, "Don't like the weather in Texas? Wait a few minutes and it'll change." That's what it's like with happiness. Happy at the moment? Wait a minute, it'll change. Something will happen that you won't like. Heck I'm not even talking about a drastic change that takes you from exuberance to despair. Even going from say, the happiness of finding an unexpected $20 in your jeans while doing the laundry to the realizing you have 3 more loads to do, can be a real bummer and create a sense of boredom and monotony that is anything but happy. On an even tougher level, that boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse you're expecting to make you happy for the rest of your life? Not going to happen. Not on the level we usually expect. ...

Don't you know that life is fleeting – here one minute, swept away the next? I was visiting the local TV station's website to read about a storm system due to arrive in my area after 10 this morning. The page I was reading was set up as a live blog page, with reporters updating the situation as needed. The first update at the top of the page read like this: 7:30 a.m.: The fatal Forest Hill accident and the wreck in Dallas near Mountain Creek Parkway and I-20 mentioned in the update about an hour ago have both been cleared. Just like that, a fatal accident and it's remains (pun intended) are cleared away and life goes on for the majority of us. If I weren't writing this, I doubt I would even remember reading that line. It reminded me that we THINK we'll be here later today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year… but the truth is, we don't know what the future holds for us. Now I could insert a bunch of platitudes about WHO holds the future, living ...

Don't you know that love is the foundation of everything we are in Christ? Paul called it clothing every other virtue we are to practice as Christians in love (Colossians 3). I call it hard to do! I have been avoiding posting this one for awhile. I just didn't want to deal with the fact that I don't love others very well. But that doesn't lessen the truth of what Paul called us to do in Colossians. And while grace pardons, it does not excuse bad behavior. It actually demands we make right whatever we've messed up! God's grace came at the great and awful price of His Son's life. That mere fact screams out that we not hide behind the grace that was provided through such a sacrifice, but to take seriously our responsibility to love others no matter where they are at and to seek forgiveness when we fail. It's not an option in light of the forgiveness we stand in as redeemed children of God. So as a chief sinner, in the worst tradition of Paul in 1 Timot...

Don't you know that truth matters? In everything? Some think it's okay to tell little white lies. Some think it's okay to omit details - thereby not telling the whole truth. The problem is, when you allow for a little fibbing, you end up lying a lot. Sliding scales of truth-telling ends up being any but truth-telling. I think maybe that's because our society - made up of us - you and I - have a hard time dealing with truth. Why is that? Maybe because it's sometimes easier to just fudge the truth a little to avoid the hassle of having to tell the whole, unvarnished truth. Or maybe you are pretending you're protecting someone by not being truthful. Other times it may because it's uncomfortable to live in the unyielding light of the truth. I recently watched an episode of "My 600lb Life." It's a series of reality-based shows documenting a year in the life of a person's battle to lose hundreds of pounds in a year. Most of them I have see...