When Truth Clears the Room

This is one of my writings from several months back...

This morning I woke up with a dream. I don’t usually have dreams, to be honest. Someone once mentioned to me that reading before bed will naturally yield more dreams while you sleep—dreams you remember too. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, but it’s worked for me. Another way to open myself to receiving from the Lord (while unconscious) that’ll put me way ahead, haha.

Anyways, I was surrounded by good people—some I knew and some I couldn’t quite recognize. There was a lake to my left and a mountain to my right, with us in this beautiful field in the middle. It was clearly a space of “like-minded Christians,” where we held worship and poured our hearts out (or so it seemed).

There was then a discussion being held where someone asked how everyone was doing spiritually—if we were struggling in areas, etc. The question felt more like a check-off-the-list item to the host rather than something very intentional, from my perception. Everyone went around kind of giving their update: “I’m doing good,” “straight chilling,” “not much new here.” All shallow, basic answers. You could tell people were itching to move on from the subject, some a bit uncomfortable.

I then chose to stand up and speak. I said something about how none of us are okay, and we need to be more in tune with our struggles in order to help each other as Christ followers. Men struggle a lot with lust, pornography, and all other types of sin. I continued to go on and speak truth—the hard truth, to be honest. Before I knew it, people were walking away slowly, talking amongst themselves, clearly uncomfortable and disassociating themselves from the conversation. Soon it was just me. Then my alarm rang.

Heading to work, I thought, what could that mean (if it even meant anything)? Everyone clearly had a “faith” but didn’t want to hear the real truth—the harsh reality that the devil is prowling around like a lion, seeking to devour at ALL times. Yet they walked away as if I was some freak for entering into “unspoken” territory.

Although we live in a society where Christians can thrive and faith is normal in American culture (while we do definitely have times of persecution), people seem to forget that we are not supposed to be comfortable. “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13). Be watchful, aware—we live in a world that wants us to dismiss the trials and persecution we face. This includes the things we struggle with that we really don’t want a light shined on.

I realized this: not everyone really even wants to hear the truth, even though they say they do. They’re married and in church but have a horrible porn addiction. On the outside, all is well, so what could be wrong? You want to grow in your faith, so you go to Bible study, but you are living with your girlfriend. Sometimes we dismiss the obvious because we don’t even want to acknowledge it. We don’t want to be offended, but we want to be holy.

I’ve got news for ya, buddy (yeah, I called you buddy). If you know one thing about me, I hate that. The truth does not care about your feelings. If you believe yourself to be a Christ follower, the Word of God is and will always be the truth, regardless of what you want it to say. I say this not to cast shame or point fingers at anyone—I have my flaws, struggles, and personal convictions too. But we may not dismiss our sin and suppress the severity of it. Sin is sin.

I hope this challenges you to examine your faith and ask yourself, “Am I truly pursuing the Lord, or just wearing the label?” And beyond that, that we would open ourselves up and pray boldly to genuinely encounter and experience Him in new ways.