"Tell the truth"
Another good one that's come to reveal itself as being very deep and simple and among the most important things to me over time was something a man said to me when I was in my fourth year of Bible College, 21 years old, not yet knowing I would imminently become a pastor in this small town for the better part of a decade. I didn't think I'd be going into vocational ministry at all but here I was, having spent four years at Bible school when I originally just intended to do one year as a tangible way to put God first in my life before I went off and did "something else". As the old
Saying goes "if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans".
Anyway I was in the office of a local minister who was overseeing some of my training and a member of his church came into the office for a quick moment (said member was also my shop teacher back in high school, we knew each other well enough) and the pastor said to him "do you have any advice for the young man going into ministry?"
The man made pretty intense eye contact with me, not at all aggressive just very serious, and all he said to me was "tell the truth". And then he walked away. It was a very cool
exit I'll admit
but also holy smokes was he right. More important and sometimes harder to do than 99 percent of the stuff I trained for academically.
And it also reminds me of something I read from a scientist I think somewhere who had said "remember that you are the easiest person to fool." We fool ourselves, we come to beleive the lies we tell ourselves if we're in the habit of telling them, and telling the truth to ourselves, about ourselves, and facing that truth and doing what it requires will prove to be the hardest thing we do I think, and the most necessary.
But God giveth more grace….
Wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, He gives me the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What will it profit a man if he gains the world but forfeits his soul?