I've been thinking about the truth and being offensive and defensive and things like that lately, and thought I'd look up a list of politically correct terms. Some of these were funny!
What do you think?
Taken from bored.com:
Bald=comb-free (Pastor Ken, are you reading this?!)
Bald=follicularly challenged
Body odor=nondiscretionary fragrance
Cannibalism=intra-species dining
Clumsy=uniquely coordinated
Cowardly=challenge challenged
Dishonest=ethically disoriented
Lazy=motivationally deficient
Redneck=rustically inclined
Roadkill=vehicularly compressed maladapted life form
Rudeness=tact avoidance
On a personal level, as a shorter person, I prefer to be called vertically challenged. Because "short" is just...well...offensive. At 5'2", I am short, but vertically challenged sounds so much better.
The truth is kind of offensive, sometimes, isn't it? It's definitely not always comfortable--sometimes, it's because you're still repressing the truth in your heart and sometimes, it's because you already know the truth, but it hurts to hear it. Feeling comfortable is....comfortable, but it doesn't challenge you to think or change. Sometimes, we need to hear the truth, as much as it may make us frown or squirm. A friend recently told me that she has always heard "If you don't leave the sermon feeling offended, it wasn't a good sermon" and I tend to agree. Warm, fuzzy feelings are nice, but that's it. They don't make you wiser or challenge you.
We live in a world that does a ridiculously eggshell-walking dance around everyone and everything (remember my disclaimer: some things do need extra respect given to them) in an attempt to placate the masses. It goes right along with the awesome sense of entitlement that everyone seems to have. Sometimes, though, it's like putting lipstick on a pig. Say what you want, pretty it up a bit, but it's still a pig. If someone did that to me, I would feel like they were patronizing me. I'd rather hear the truth any day, even if I get my feelings hurt.
Jesus--He didn't sugarcoat things. He put things bluntly. He told it like it was. The funny thing is that man (oh, I mean "humankind") has taken His words and tried to make everyone happy and comfortable.
Oh no, when He said that He didn't really mean that. What he really meant was......
And then there's everyone's favorite verse: "Love your neighbor as yourself," because of course that cancels out any other kind of commandment.
Well, that's ok if he/she did that because God said to love them.
Real love is saying, "Hey, I love you, but I've got to tell you the truth, even if it hurts your feelings."
Real love is saying, "Hey, I love you, and I've got to tell you--you're going down the wrong path."
In the end, real love always tells the truth just.like.it.is. Sometimes, it might step on your toes. Sometimes, it might "get all up in your grill." Much of the time, it may make you feel uncomfortable and defensive.
But that's ok, because real love cares enough to tell you the truth.
**The voice of Truth tells me a different story.**
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