Truthful.
“To declare that the Lord is upright … ”
They tell me that on the old sitcom Golden Girls, the character of Sophia (“Ma”) played by Estelle Getty is brutally truthful because she had had a stroke.
No one wants people around them who have lost their sense of propriety and who blurt out what they are thinking without any kind of controls.
We’re not talking about that kind of brutal truth-telling.
We’re speaking of witnessing to the living Lord, of telling what we have learned of Him through our years.
“To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
No youngster just starting out in the Christian life can attest to this. These are hard realities learned in the crucible of everyday living—of being married 40 years, some of it great and some of it extremely difficult; of raising children and getting through those difficult teen years; of stretching the paycheck and struggling to give our tithes when the money is scarce; of being faithful to the church when it’s in crisis; of loving a neighbor or brother-in-law who seems dedicated to your destruction. Come through all this and you look back and say, “Wow. The Lord is my strength, my Rock! He really is as good as His Word! It all worked out just as He said it would!”
There are no shortcuts in life.
The only way to learn the Lord is upright is to be part of a world that is teetering.
The only way to learn the Lord is your Rock is to live in a world where everything else is crumbling.
The only way to know there is no unrighteousness in Him is to experience unrighteousness all about you.
Now, when you have arrived at this stage in life, senior disciple, where you see these things and know these truths, tell them! Do not keep this wisdom to yourself.
Tell your story, old-timer. The rest of us need to hear it.
I know, I know. You’re saying, “But they don’t want to hear it. They don’t have time.”
It’s true that they are rushed and don’t have long attention spans. So, here are my suggestions …
—Get a blog. Write short articles there, telling experiences you had and lessons you learned the hard way.
—Remember to tell the good and the bad, the bright and the dark. Each has contributions to make to the effectiveness of the other. By giving the downside, you make the upside authentic. By telling the upside, the great things, you give hope to those going through the valleys.
—In doing a blog—your grandchild can set it up for you, it doesn’t have to cost a penny, and no one but the few family and friends you tell how to access it have to see it—write some every day. If you don’t, or if you think you have to wait until you can do it perfectly, it’ll never get done.
—An alternative is to write a book. Type it or handwrite it, your choice. And—repeating myself here—do not burden yourself with the need to do it perfectly or you’ll go to heaven with not a line written.
Get on with it. Tell us what you learned. Tell what you know of the Lord Jesus Christ and His way. Tell us what you got right and what you wish you could do over.
Have fun. Laugh. After all, you’re full of sap.
Or something.
