(while writing this entry on the train, I managed to lose my PSP :( oh sacrifice)

I tend to have a love-hate relationship with truth. Sort of like a Mr. Darcy-Elizabeth Bennet kind of thing, but with less 19th century suits and Lady Catherine scolding. I love the way truth tends to blow my mind, but I hate the way it forces me to come to terms with certain things. Cause the truth about truth (hee hee) is that I prefer ignorance. I love not having to know what's wrong with me. Truth just works that way. If tells you pretty uncompromisingly what's up with you, what needs correction, what needs to be changed

Sure, the expression is overused, but mostly because it's true. Truth IS like a light. It tends to pierce our darkness. It cuts straight through who we think we are, through the image we put up, and stirs up the things we'd rather leave to settle quietly. Truth tends to cut, uncompromisingly. Yes, truth sets you free, but it has a habit of hurting like a bugger before it does.

But here's the amazing thing :) God doesn't do just truth alone. I think about Jesus and the Adulterous Woman in John 8. Here you have Jesus, pretty much the human symbol for truth and righteousness; and then you have the adulterous woman (pretty much says it all). An angry mob has just pretty much thrown this woman in front of Him, getting all ready to stone her for her sins. Jesus looks up at all of them, stands His ground and protects her from their condemnation. That in itself is an amazing show of grace. But what's even more amazing is the last part of this story. After Jesus has done His part, the crowd has slowly disappeared, the woman wipes off the tears of sadness and fear from her eyes, and looks up to her saviour. He straightens up, looks her in the eye, and asks:

"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir."
"Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin."

God doesn't just do truth, He does forgiveness. It's this amazing process where He looks straight at you, through the images you put up, to the truth of who you are. Like a member of the Na'vi would say, He sees you. The only person in the entire universe who could possibly judge you truly impartially looks straight into who we are, and chooses not condemnation but love. He chooses freedom from the bondages that pull us down over condemning us. It's just like that line in Chris Tomlin's Indescribable, "You see the depths of my heart but You love me the same".

We learn to be truthful to others when we first learn to be truthful to ourselves. We learn to be truthful with ourselves when we let God reveal the truth about us to us. When we realise that there's nothing to hide from the one who is always watching over us. Who comes not only with truth, but with love. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20).

And why is truth so darn important? Because anything that isn't true is false. God keeps it real friends, that's the way He roll. The fake stuff knows much better than to mess with Him.

Truth friends, truth.