Courageous Truth Telling

So, the world’s way is denial. How do we move with God from denying the reality of our loss to brutal honesty—to candor?

Candor Defined

What exactly is biblical candor? Candor is:

Courageous truth telling about life to myself in which I come face-to-face with the reality of external and internal suffering.

The World Is Fallen and It Often Falls On Us

Let’s explore the last part of this definition first. Martin Luther divided suffering into two levels. He said that level one suffering is what happens to us and around us—external suffering—life’s losses.

Level one suffering is what we are facing. It’s the external stuff of life to which we respond internally. I lose my job, my child is ill, I face criticism, experience abuse, and the like. I like to say it like this: the world is fallen and it often falls on us.

The World Is a Mess and It Often Messes with Our Minds

This is bad, even traumatic, but level two suffering is worse. Level two suffering is what happens in us—internal suffering—life’s crosses. Level two suffering is how we face what we are facing.

This level of suffering is the suffering of the mind that gives rise to fear and doubt as we reflect on our external suffering. It is the crisis of faith. Do we doubt, fear, and run away from God? Or, do we trust, cling, and face our suffering face-to-face with God? I like to say it like this: The world is a mess and it often messes with our mind. In candor, I admit what is happening to me and I feel what is going on inside me.

My Personal Story

I had to move from denial to candor after the death of my father on my 21st birthday. In fact, it was not until my 22nd birthday that the process truly began. I had been handling my loss like a good Bible college graduate and seminary student—I was pretending!

On my 22nd birthday I went for a long walk around the outskirts of the Grace Seminary campus. I started facing my loss. My loss of my Dad. The reality that I would never know him in an adult-to-adult relationship. The fact that my future children would never know their grandfather. As I faced some of these external loses, the tears came. Then I began to face some of the internal crosses. What was happening in me. I felt like a loner. Fatherless. Orphaned. Unprotected. On my own. The tears flowed. The process of candor began. The floodgate of emotions erupted. I was being honest with myself.

Was It Biblical?

But was it biblical?

Drop back by tomorrow as we explore just how amazingly biblical candor is and how vital it is to emotionally and spiritually healthy responding to life’s losses.