Sunday, May 19, 2019

Should you "live your own truth?"


This past week, I heard a commencement speaker expound on the need to “live your own truth” instead of the truth assigned to you by others.  There was much in his speech with which I agreed.  I do believe you should not let other people define or limit you.  You should not allow others to emphasize your weaknesses and pigeon-hole you as someone who can only do this and not that.  It is healthy to enjoy your accomplishments and set goals which push you past previous limits.

But…

That is NOT the same thing as living your own truth.  How on earth do any of us figure out what our own truth is?  What if we are deluded?  What if our upbringing and prior experiences have impacted us in such subtle ways that we don’t even realize that our truth is really a composite of the truth of others?  As I was growing up, my father repeatedly told me I was fat and stupid.  I believe he loved me and that he had no idea how his words…which he thought were teasing…were affecting me.  I knew enough to reject the “stupid” part, since I had a habit of being at the top of my class, but I bought into the “fat” description.  I felt awkward about my body, insecure about the way I moved, and the way I looked.  It took me years away from home to get over that.  I didn’t even know I was living something other than my own truth.

The healing thing for me was the realization that I could live, not my own truth, but God’s truth about me.  I began relying on the fact that God has created each of us uniquely and specially, and that He loves us individually.  I’m not talking about “God loves mankind.”  I am talking about “God loves me.”  When I accepted Jesus into my life as my personal Savior, I became a child of the King.  He has a plan for me.  As I seek to follow Him, He will give me an assignment…a job that I am better suited for than anyone else.  This is not an ego-trip which involves living my own truth.  This is absolute confidence in His love for me and His desire to see me fulfilled.  I want to live His TRUTH.  

Why would I short-change myself by living my own truth when I can live His?



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