As we enter another election cycle, we will once again see the way our political system inclines us to misquote one another in an attempt to create an unfair advantage over our political and moral opponents.
Yet who can doubt that our own desire to be seen as conservative, Bible believing, followers of Christ also results, all too often, in careless, unintentional, and even willful misrepresentations of those we believe to be in error?
If we are people of the truth, rather than people of the lie, why would we not take the time to find out whether those we disagree with have really said, or meant the words and thoughts that we attribute to them?
Yesterday, I heard a story of personal reconciliation that happened when a friend faced his own heart with enough honesty to doubt his own conclusions about wrongs that he believed another person had done to him many years earlier. By the raw, broken, and life-giving honesty of another, I was reminded of my own inclination to see myself and others in ways that say more about what I want to believe than about the truth.
What better reason do we have to ask questions about our own inclination to overlook that part of us that, even to this very moment, loves darkness more than the light? (John 3:19-21).
Imagine the grace, the truth, the light, and the love that could be shining with a few more honest questions– asked only at the expense of the darkness.