And That’s the Truth!

I am passionate about the truth.  For as long as I can remember, I have always had an intense interest in searching for, discovering, and communicating truth.  As a senior in high school, a teacher presented our English class with an assignment asking us to describe our major life goal.  My answer?  Well, to seek and find the ultimate truth, OBVIOUSLY!  That’s not too lofty for an 18 year-old, is it?  In college, I studied political science, thinking I might one day go to law school to become an ardent defender of truth and justice.  That was until I learned that’s not what lawyers actually do!  I must confess to you that my life goal is still somewhat the same today.  Nothing gets me more excited than discovering the truth about something.  Anything.  Facts and right answers thrill me.  Being right thrills me even more, although that doesn’t happen as often as I would like!

I have opinions, sometimes strong opinions, and I have a hard time keeping them to myself, because I have weighed them, prayed about them, and have found them worthy of being held.  I have a passion for sharing the truths with others.  It’s how I am wired.  This also means that I happen to be the world’s worst liar.  I have a very difficult time feigning interest in something with which I am not totally absorbed.  I tend to be very transparent, wearing all my emotions in my facial expressions and my heart on my sleeve!  I’m pretty much an open book.  Biting my tongue is not a particular strength of mine.  Unfortunately, In this day and age, this doesn’t always attract very many “followers.”

As a young college student, my search for Truth led me to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  At 19, I became a Christian.  Before then, nothing had ever satisfied those hunger pangs for Truth.  Nothing had ever quenched that thirst.  And this Truth remains my foundation to this day.

Fun fact:  My name comes from the Greek word “angelos” meaning “messenger of God.”

So, I am politically passionate, Jesus-loving, opinionated woman living in 2013 who feels that it is her purpose in life to preach the Truth.  What could be so wrong with that?

As you can probably imagine, however, this little character aspect of mine can be quite problematic.  Because of my truth-seeking tendencies, I tend to be a little bit of a skeptic.  How can you be a Christian and a skeptic, you may ask?  Exactly.  It’s pure torture.  I am rarely satisfied with pat, pre-packaged answers or neatly explained theories.  Even if those answers may be right, I hold out.  I am definitely not what you’d call an “early adopter.”  For instance, I usually discover “new” bands three years after they’ve broken up.  I am slow to get on board, which sometimes means I altogether miss the bus!  But when I do get on board with something, I am on the ride for the long haul.

Sometimes I spend HOURS scouring the Internet, reading books, magazine articles, anything I can find searching for some nugget of truth that I can use to change even my small corner of the world.  Often, though, my search leaves me dissatisfied.  Corrie ten Boom said, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.”  This is so very true.  The world is in shambles and doesn’t seem to have any solutions.  I am human and I certainly don’t have all the answers.  Therefore, God is and continues to be my source of comfort, hope, strength, peace, and joy in this broken, disillusioned world.

It is becoming increasingly more and more difficult to know what the truth is anymore.  We are told that truth is relative and everyone has to find their own version of the truth.  Well, I 100% percent believe in a universal Truth.  1+1 will always equal 2.  The color red is red, no matter what country you’re in.  We may use different words to describe it (“rojo,” “rouge”), but it’s still red.  There may be even be slight variations in the shade of red.  The diversity of shades that exist within just one color are numerous.  But red is red.  Good is good.  Bad is bad.  Fair is fair.

You get the idea.

You see, I have this ongoing struggle, and it is evidenced in my blogging.  I often debate about what to write about so much that I end up writing nothing at all!  I can shut up and be quiet and be liked, but never be heard.  I can write about benign things like football, movies, or just focus on the things about Jesus that everybody likes, like His teachings about love.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with those things, but then I am not writing from my passions.  Or I can open my mouth (or in this case, type my thoughts) and risk turning people away.  You see, the things I most enjoy talking about are the things that are, according to the old adage, deemed inappropriate for polite conversation.  However, in this current cultural climate, it seems no one wants to hear the Truth any more.  We just want to feel good.

I think that what our world needs now, more than ever, are Truth bearers.  People who aren’t afraid to stand up for what is right, speaking the Truth while we still have breath in our lungs to anyone who will listen.  Even if we are laughed at.  Made fun of.  Even when the world sticks its fingers in its ears and disagrees and calls us names.  Even if it means we won’t be very popular.  You see, I’d rather die knowing that I stood for something.  I would rather be in the ranks of those who went against the grain of their contemporaries, adding to the voices unafraid and unashamed to speak the Truth, sacrificing their time, their comfort, their resources, their reputations, and some even their very lives in the pursuit.  People like Galileo, William Wilberforce, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, Winston Churchill, Thomas Paine, St. Francis of Assissi, Mother Theresa, and Ron Paul.  Just to name a few.

I leave you with the words of Jesus Christ, the ultimate Voice of Truth:

 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” —Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)