day 1019: T.H.I.N.K - Part 1: Truth

"Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, by telling the truth."

Last week was filled with news about what happens when an email or communication is discovered that turns out to reveal actions and behaviors that are deceptive, dishonest and unseemly. It's worth taking a few Purposed worKING posts to remind ourselves of how we should conduct ourselves with electronic communication.  There are no secrets in the digital age and so we must T.H.I.N.K. before we act, write or speak.

Before we write or post let's first step back and ask ourselves, is this the "Truth"? In our digital age the truth is sometimes hard to know, but we must consider and realize is that when we write, say or post it that we putting our own reputation behind the statement or picture in declaring that we must think it is the truth otherwise we wouldn't have written and sent it along. The problem is that that people distort the truth and then we just follow on and once we have "Liked" or forwarded it, it can't be take back.  We are then on record as supporting it as the truth.  Also, truth is not just as we see it to be.  That is perception.  Truth are the facts and we each have the responsibility to search out and deliver only the facts.  A misquote or half a statement, or words that we don't know where they actually came from is not the truth.  If we don't know if is the truth, then don't pass it along.

The truth as we know it in our spiritual life comes from our Lord.  We an never go wrong by staying in His truth as our foundation and grounding.  We also must realize that what we say or write is even more impacting on others because if we espouse to be followers of Jesus then we are to be people of the truth.  When it turns out to not be so, then we are not only compromised in our witness but we may have caused others to stumble. Finding the truth and never shading or reshaping it to our liking is hard, but we must stand on truth first if we are to be models that Jesus desires.

Reference: Joshua 7:19 (New Living Translation)