The Numbing Truth

What do we do when we are faced with the truth and can’t change it?  I love fruit!  I love mangos, cantaloupe, honeydew, and most of all pineapples.  About five years ago, I was eating a fruit salad and I noticed something strange happening; my mouth started feeling weird.  The back of my throat was getting a little itchy and I didn’t understand why.  A few weeks later, I was eating another fruit salad and it was clear that I was having an allergic reaction.  I did not want to believe it even though the allergy got worse as the years went on.  I was able to eat a few pieces of fruit before my mouth started to tingle.  The truth was, though I really could not eat it, I refused to believe it till one fateful day.

Cooking is one of my favorite things to do.  So, one night I made dinner for my family like I always did but this night I wanted to do it differently.  They love it when I make sweet and sour chicken with Spanish rice.  Now, this meal has pineapple in it, one of my favorite fruits. This day, Rachel and I decided to go all out and we served the rice in a hollowed out pineapple.  I was so proud of myself as Rachel tried the meal and with a stuffed mouth, she gave a thumbs up.  I tasted it and it was spectacular if I do say so myself (patting myself on the back).  As the family gathered around to eat, I tasted the food again and for some reason, it didn’t taste the same as it did when Rachel and I had tasted it a few minutes before.  I went back to the kitchen to get more salt, but something was wrong.  It didn’t matter how much salt I put on the rice, I could barely taste it.

I was forced to face the truth, whether I was willing to admit it or not. My mouth became completely numb—which is why I kept adding salt, my throat was slowly closing up.  I felt like I was swallowing sandpaper and felt lumps starting to develop.  What was going on?

Define Truth

Like many of us…I had to face truth whether I agreed with it or not.  What is the definition of truth?  The definition is, “that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.”  I know that this definition seems so simple and obvious but being honest with ourselves, we can’t face truth because it is so painful, and it turns on the lights when we would love to stay in the dark.

Let’s do a Bible study.  In Mark chapter 5 there was a man who was possessed with several demons.  He ran around the town naked, screaming at night and living in the graves of the town.  He was so strong that when others tried to chain him down, he would break the chains and cut himself.  The town dealt with this man for a while until Jesus showed up.  Let’s see what happened.

The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.  And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.  And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and the pigs.  And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.  As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.  And he did not permit him but said to him,

“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”  And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.” – Mark 5:14-20

There are two kinds of people who are in this story and there are two kinds of people who read my articles.  First, those seeking truth and second those confronted by the truth but are scared so they push it away; they push away truth like they pushed away Jesus.

Why are we really scared of the truth?  According to verse 15 of what we read above, they were afraid because he was clothed and in his right mind.  It doesn’t say that the people in the town were scared when he was so strong and breaking chains, screaming at night, running around naked, or living in tombs.  What really bothered them was when he was healed and in his right mind.  Does that make sense?  The truth is they got used to the chaos and turmoil.  This dysfunctional town found his behavior normal. Are there chaotic things going on in your life that you have gotten so used to that, it’s become normal to you?  It could be dysfunctional relationships, lukewarm believers, or destructive decisions that lead to regret for days, months, or years to come.

I know that as I am writing to you, you are thinking about some obvious things, but I am NOT talking about the obvious.  I’m talking about the things that are not so clear cut.  It’s the thing that if God were to put his finger on it, you would be upset, afraid, and uncomfortable about it.  Let’s be real, I’m sure that in your mind you feel like, that drink, that smoke, that sexual encounter, that movie, or even that simple conversation doesn’t affect you.  You KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that those things don’t harm you…if anything, you believe that it helps you.

This is where truth comes in.  Jesus says in John 14:6,

“I am the way, TRUTH and the life no man comes to the Father but by me.”

What happens when he shows up on the scene of chaos?  We will either do what the man does; kneel before “truth” and surrender our sins to God, or we will be like the people in the town and ask truth to leave because it is more dangerous than the bondage we are in.  Come on, be real. Doesn’t truth threaten us?  Of course, it does!  It exposes our true motives, evil intention, selfishness, greed, rebellion, self-righteousness, and more.  These are all things we hide, cover-up, and pretend are not there.  We act as if we are just being misunderstood.

Truth Centered Life

What does it mean to live a life centered around truth?

1. Admit truth. What would we have to admit? Well, we have to admit that some of the things that stress us out, cause us anxiety, are due to the decisions we continue to make.
2. Speak truth. There are many times we hide our true feelings about things because we don’t want to hurt other’s feelings. Maybe we need to stick up for ourselves in those dysfunctional relationships.  Or maybe we have to admit that we put the “dys” in dysfunctional.
3. Face truth. We have to face the truth that we cannot do life without Jesus Christ and in certain areas of our lives, we try to do God’s job. To be honest we would have to admit that we do God’s job because we don’t trust him.

What does Jesus do when we don’t want him?  These people in the town spent so much time ignoring what needed to be fixed and when Jesus fixed it, they told him to leave.  If you continue reading you will see that Jesus did not push himself on them or tried to convince them that they needed him.  He knew where he was not welcomed and allowed them to live in their delusion but asked that man to stay there as a memorial of what God was capable of doing.  God does the same for us.  Even though we push away the truth he leaves evidence of his true ability for us to look upon.

On that day when I was eating dinner with my family, I became convinced that I had COVID as my throat felt so scratchy and the taste in my mouth was not returning. However, the truth is I put pineapples and pineapple juice in the sweet and sour sauce after I placed the rice in a hollowed-out pineapple.   I pushed truth away when I decided to act like I wasn’t allergic and that nothing was wrong but was left with evidence that I could not deny.

Is there something that God wants to do in you, but you are in denial? This is the time when we have to face the truth even though it may be hard and uncomfortable. We would also love to be there for you.  During this time please feel free to contact us through our email at thruthewinters@gmail.com or comment below.