Well, it’s been a long while since I posted last. For that, I apologize! God had intentions to put me through a rough time of dryness, and I just didn’t have anything that I felt was worth saying. Honestly, I’m still in that time of dryness, but something has been kicking my backside, and here I am!

I do have something to say! But I lie to myself about it! “No one wants to hear what you have to say!” “Oh, you’ll just foul it up; they’ll never understand!” “Dude! Just shut up already! You’re just making noise!” These are a sample of the lies that fly across my mind, even as I write this. But God!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love this phrase! “But God!” I dare say that it is the most potent, pregnant, awe-striking phrase in all the English language! No matter what situation you’re in, “but God” is the turning point. Let’s consider the lies I have running through my head, but let’s add this phrase:
– No one wants to hear what you have to say, but God….
– Oh, you’ll just foul it up; they’ll never understand, but God…
– Dude! Just shut up already! You’re just making noise, but God….

The things God can do through me are beyond my comprehension and anyone’s estimations! It may be that God wants to use my noise to rock someone out of their complacency. Maybe God has a point to make that the other person(s) will hear despite what I thought I was explaining. Better yet, no one may want to hear me, but God may want me to speak just like Jeremiah in his day.

The point of this is that we tell ourselves lies, but the truth is that God has ways He wants to use us, and who are we to get in His way. This is not a license to be brutal or to always speak whatever comes to mind; Ephesians 4:15 tells us we are to speak in love, and the fruits of the Spirit show us that we are to be self-controlled. Rather, this is an invitation to look past our own thoughts and see the whole truth.

The whole truth; that phrase makes me think of courtrooms, “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Have you ever thought about that phrase? I’d be willing to wager that most people have not, but it’s a bit of legalese. If you haven’t noticed, legalese is like good philosophy and good theology, it’s built to keep you from being able to get around it (or to completely demolish it when it’s built on false basis/premises). In this case, one is promising to tell not only the truth, but the whole truth, to not skew the truth by omitting inconvenient or disliked details; additionally, one is promising to give nothing but the truth, not to give impressions, opinions, or personal thoughts/conjecture. In so doing, the one promising is bounding themselves to not misrepresent the truth by omission, admission, or any other aspect, but to simply tell what is true about a thing.

So often, in our own minds, we only take a portion of the truth. “I’m going to totally screw this up!” Yeah, you might. But God can use that screw up; better yet, sometimes, He works in the hearts of the people you’re screwing up in front of and they come alongside you to help you do the thing better or to encourage you that you did just fine. Oh the immense mercy and goodness of the Lord God Almighty!

While this isn’t my usually post with various Scripture sources or merely nerdy observations, I hope it still encourages you to identify the lies you’ve been believing and press into the Truth! “Wait, why did you capitalize Truth?” Because there is One who is the Truth! Jesus, the Son of God came to draw us back to God by making peace through His life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead, being both wholly God and wholly man. And we can have this peace, if we’ll accept it through making Him Lord of our lives and following Him! (If you don’t know how to do this, grab a Bible and ask God to open your eyes to Him through His word, and start reading the Gospel of John, then get involved in a local church that will also take you into His word, wholly and without leaving anything out.)

See, when we have these lies in our head, we see half the picture. “But God!” And that powerful phrase holds hope for those who are in Christ, under His headship and trusting in His sacrifice in our place. Without Him, that phrase is little more than mere superstition, mere myth and folklore that might comfort for a moment, but it holds no real power. Yet, when one is guided by His Lordship, “But God” means everything. It means that when my world flies apart (feel free to read the Heartfelt Mind-Meld for more on my personal testimony), I can hold on to Him and know that He has a plan through that, not necessarily for my pleasure but for my best! And it means that when, whether due to my own fault or despite my best efforts, people reject me, the Almighty, through Jesus, has accepted me and loves me, knowing me better than any one of those people ever could!

So, today, I am choosing to deny the lies and press into the Truth, letting my mind’s lies turn into “But God” moments for His glory, and whatever He chooses to do in me, as well. Whether this moment is for my growth, my encouragement, my refinement (which often comes with some discomfort or pain), or merely as an opportunity for Him to work in someone else’s life, I choose to press in! I refuse to let the lies (or worse yet, the enemy of my soul, Satan; yes, the Devil does exist) define me further, and I am going to fight to hold to the Truth! Jesus has made me a warrior in Him! But more on that another time…

Godspeed – 1 Corinthians 15:10