For the Love - by Jen Hatmaker Sample

Tell the Truth

Here is the truth: Sometimes life is complicated. Do you know how often I make decisions that seem mostly right, but then a few weird slivers remain and I move anyway? Do you know how much theology I have to leave in the “I just won’t understand this until I meet Him face-to-face” drawer? I deeply want to live well but constantly worry some of my categories are in full disarray. Sometimes I’m not sure. Sometimes I’m conflicted. Sometimes I change my mind. Sometimes I’m way more human than folks are comfortable with.

If we could believe we are deeply connected in the fragile places, we could drop the games. When you tell me the truth about yourself, I no longer hide from you. You become safe for me. So guess what? You are now a recipient of my truth too. I am drawn to you. Your vulnerability makes a path for my own. Your truth-telling says to me, “I will not despise, judge, or abandon you.” Ironically, it gives me the courage to be afraid, the strength to be weak.

That brings us to the other side, dear ones: receiving someone else’s truth. May I suggest a starting place as truth receivers? It is okay for someone else to struggle. Furthermore, it is okay to not fix it/solve it/answer it/discredit it. Another believer can experience tension, say something true that makes people uncomfortable, and God will not fall off His throne.

It is not our responsibility to fix every mess. If someone steps onto the scary ledge of truth, it is enough to acknowledge her courage and make this promise: I am here with you as your friend, not your Savior. We are not good gods over one another; we are better humans beside each other.

Simply speaking truth out loud is healing in and of itself. When people courageously voice a true, hard thing, they’ve already stolen some of its dark power before we offer one word to fix it. Theology backs that up. Of our own Jesus, Scripture says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4–5).

Life and light are greater than the darkness.