Do you ever feel like the people around you will think what they think, no matter what you say or do? The level of misinformation and miscommunication, with which we all must deal on a regular basis, is truly staggering. And I don’t believe I can do anything to fix this problem. Well, there is one thing.

 

I can look in the mirror and realize (after the initial shock of remembering how old I look) that I can be the change I want to see. I know that’s a trite cliché, but if I care about the truth, and I’m concerned about people basing their opinions on the facts that they know for sure, then I’d better do the same thing myself.

 

Of course, this is incredibly difficult to achieve. In a previous blog, I quoted Charles Horton Cooley, who said: “I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.” Today, I’m pondering this statement from the opposite perspective, i.e., what have I caused others to think about themselves because of how I’ve treated them? Have my perceptions of others helped to shape their self-concepts, for better or for worse?

 

To be part of the solution, I must treat people as more important than myself and I must base my opinions of them on facts from direct sources, not on suspicions, or judgments, or rumors, or gossip, or even just third-hand information that’s never really accurate (ever play “The Telephone Game?”). In short, I need to treat people in a manner consistent with the truth.

 

For my part, here’s my commitment: I will do everything in my power, and more importantly, in the power of God’s Spirit, to speak the truth and act only on what I know for sure to be true. I will “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19). I will “put off falsehood and speak truthfully to my neighbor” (Ephesians 4:25). I will obey God when He says, “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace” (Zechariah 8:16).

 

At one point or another, I will likely fall short of this goal. When that happens, I will: confess to the God of truth, the God for whom it’s impossible to lie (Hebrews 6:18); I will ask forgiveness from God and anyone I’ve hurt; I will change my mind (repent); I will renew my commitment; and I will improve my behavior. At times, this will seem like a goal I can never achieve, but as Jesus Himself said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).

 

Troy Burns