Which are you—left, right, or somewhere in the middle?

We’re apparently programmed to think of nearly every aspect of our lives in terms of a linear continuum.

Politics provides the most obvious example. Left/right, liberal/conservative, red/blue. While most of us don’t reside at an extreme, we’re certainly conditioned to think of ourselves at least on one side or the other of center.

But it’s not just politics. I’m struggling to come up with an example of a choice or behavior that doesn’t convey the implication of a continuum on which you’re either toward one end or the other or closer to the center, but everyone occupies some position along the line.

One of my friends holds a strictly literal interpretation of the bible. Another claims that scripture is conveys principles—the details aren’t important. I know a pastor who maintains that the bible is God’s complete revelation and another who says that “humans shouldn’t put a period where God placed a comma.”

I’ve always felt a bit uncomfortable, or maybe out of place, with the notion that everything in life is represented by a left-right continuum. I think I finally understand why.

Continuums are about debate and compromise.

But compromise is inherently values-neutral. Compromise is about what’s possible, not what’s right. In order to “get things done” we take some of the good—and some of the bad—from each side. Everyone gets a bit of what they want and swallows some distasteful medicine. It’s the price of doing business in a democracy. I get that.

But the “muddled middle” of compromise doesn’t define truth. The center of the continuum may be the place of consensus, but that doesn’t make it right.

I believe in truth. I don’t claim to always—or even mostly—know what that truth is, but not being known doesn’t prevent truth from being, well, true.

And since I believe truth exists, my goal ought to be to discover as much of it as possible.

If that’s REALLY the goal, a lot of my behavior needs to change. I’d like to spend this week looking at some of that, but today I’d like to get your reaction to this idea:

Truth may not be anywhere on any continuum.

I’m thinking that the lines are human creations, expressions of our need to make sense and order from apparent chaos. But as long as we seek truth along a continuum, we’re always thinking in terms of debate and compromise.

TRUTH or RIGHT isn’t on the line at all.

I think that might have been Jesus’ message. Perhaps He was saying that the gospel isn’t left or right but a different thing entirely. Perhaps He was so radical precisely because He didn’t fit an existing category.

He wasn’t liberal or conservative or anywhere in between. He was something else altogether, something that didn’t fit into any human preconceptions. Some folks rejected Him, some followed Him. some tried to kill Him. Didn’t matter—He was still I AM.

What would change if we tried to simply know Him rather than boxing Him into the corner that makes us most comfortable?

How about you? What’s your response to the idea that TRUTH may not be anywhere on our lines?

Did you enjoy this article? I encourage you to leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net.

Receive free updates via email:

Subscribe in a reader

Related articles:

How To Escape The Roller Coaster

How To Change Another Person

Oncoming Traffic …

What do you think when you see this little blue guy?

I asked some middle school kids that question. Hands went up, signaling a number of insightful comments. The sign reminded some of friends or family members. A few said they wondered about the people who needed those parking spaces. One appreciated that we care enough to provide this simple aid for folks in need.

After they seemed about finished, one boy who might have been a stand-in for Dennis the Menace raised his hand.

“Technically, the little guy’s white. The background is blue.”

We all chuckled as he protested that he was just being observant.

As I mentally de-briefed the presentation, I was reminded why I liked working with kids. And I also wondered if he understood how much insight he’d demonstrated.

I’ve looked at that symbol hundreds of times in dozens of different settings, and I always think of “the little blue guy.” I never noticed that he’s not really blue.

How often do we all do a similar thing with our perceptions? We get an idea in our heads, and that’s just the way it is. We react so automatically to the perception that we no longer even see the details.

I think that was one of Jesus’ central messages, especially to the religious leaders. They “knew” so much that they couldn’t see Truth standing right in front of them. They felt so threatened by His fresh perspective that they killed Him.

How often do I become so entrenched in my thinking that I fail to see simple Truth right in front of me? How many times do I persist in convoluted logic to preserve my treasured ideas?

How many times do I fail to hear the beauty of Jesus loves me, this I know because I’m too busy being smart and sophisticated?

God promises a new beginning, a fresh start, a cleansed heart. But to really experience that promise, we need fresh thoughts as well.

What perception do you cling to? Maybe it’s refusal to forgive, a grudge or an old wound. Perhaps it’s a prized political or social viewpoint, or a pattern of thoughts you’ve carried since childhood.

What about those most dangerous notions, the ones so close to the target that they keep us away from genuine center? Are you focused on something almost-but-not-quite true north?

I’ll likely continue to refer to “that little blue guy.” It’s a bit more lyrical somehow than “that little white guy.”

But I’ll never see the blue guy quite the same. A twelve-year-old pointed to simple truth I couldn’t see with my educated eyes.

I have a feeling that Jesus is inviting us to look—and see—more frequently with twelve-year-old eyes.

Do you cling to any perceptions that might keep you from seeing the simple Truth?

Did you enjoy this article? I encourage you to leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net.

Receive free updates via email:

Subscribe in a reader

Related articles:

Why Am I Here?

Limits Or Possibilities?

How To Change Another Person

Happy Monday. I hope your week’s off to a great start.

Monday’s word-of-the-week day, and this week’s word is discernment.

I encountered this term last week in a wonderful workshop offered by Gus Lee. Gus talked about courage and leadership, and one of his key points was that courageous leaders must exercise discernment.

In this context, discernment implies searching beyond what is obvious or superficial. It’s developing and exercising the power to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or excellent.

Discernment seeks to understand what’s right, true, and best. It searches deeper than what’s expedient or acceptable.

I think I was struck most by Gus’ statement that discernment isn’t values-neutral. It operates from the premise that absolute truth exists. In a culture drowning in moral and ethical relativism, discernment involves the difficult quest to know what’s really right.

Discernment thinks long-term, digging to uncover elusive eternal truths that supersede cultural norms and rules. It recognizes that such a search involves life-long learning and a willingness to grow and learn as wisdom develops. It demands change in the face of new discovery and understanding.

Here are a couple of ideas I scribbled as I thought about being a person of discernment.

• What’s right? is a better question than What’s legal?
• What’s true? is more useful than What’s everyone else believe?
• What’s best? is better than What works?
• Good enough is never good enough in matters of truth.
• Wisdom is more important than knowledge.
• What’s right? gets me closer to truth than What are my rights?

Discernment isn’t easy or comfortable. Worthwhile goals seldom are.

This is also Word-of-Mouth Day, when I kindly encourage (or, from your perspective, pester) you to help spread the word about Bouncing Back. Today’s request is simple:

Forward the link to someone who might be interested. Help us grow the circle by suggesting this site to others who might like to join the discussion.

Thanks for all of your help and support.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. [John 1:14]

Grace and truth?

I think a lot about John’s opening verses describing Jesus simply as The Word. I love the poetry, the imagery, and the intimate spiritual experience John portrays.

In his first letter (1 John 1) he expands the picture of a sensory, experiential encounter with Jesus: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

Can you feel his passion? John isn’t just relating words. He’s proclaiming a deep connection involving his senses—he touched The Word, saw and heard The Word, felt and experienced The Word of God. I sense that John invites me to allow The Word to wrap itself around me and soak into me until I’m literally infused with its presence and power.

But I’ve always sort of wondered about the linkage of grace and truth, which he repeats in verse 17: For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

Grace and truth—doesn’t that seem like an odd combination of attributes?

I understand that Jesus is all about grace. And I certainly believe that he came to proclaim truth. But why did John emphasize the juxtaposition of grace and truth in describing Jesus?

I’m beginning to understand that, in a sense, experiencing Jesus almost requires combining these two apparently disparate notions. My experience with grace and truth forms a cycle.

The primary truth I learn from Jesus is my need for Him. I’m lost, and I can’t discover my own path from darkness. I can’t earn my way. At its core, truth involves acknowledging that I’m broken.

But by itself, truth leaves me hopeless. Truth highlights my need for grace.

And the moment I confront that first kernel of truth, grace washes over me. The same Word that convicts me also sets me free. I’m free to confront deeper truth, secure in the hope that grace will always be sufficient. More hope allows me to acknowledge more truth, which allows me to experience even more grace.

• Truth, without grace, creates hopelessness.
• Grace, without truth, can’t be experienced.

I think that’s what John wanted to communicate. He wanted to express that when he walked and talked with Jesus, he touched, heard, saw, and intimately encountered both the truth that condemns and the grace that liberates.

In a strange way, I learn each day about the message of my own story. The cover of Relentless Grace includes this subtitle: God’s Invitation To Give Hope Another Chance.

I’m learning that “hope” leads me out of darkness and into the wonderful light of truth, secure in God’s limitless, matchless, relentless grace.

How have you experienced this cycle of grace and truth?

Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before a meal. Grace is a way to live.

Truth creates the opportunity for more truth.

Did you enjoy this article? Please leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net.

Receive free updates via email:

Subscribe in a reader

Related articles:

The Perfect Title

Why Relentless Grace?

Relentless 

 An ethical person ought to do more than he’s required to do and less than he’s allowed to do.

You can’t mandate morality.

Call it what you want—morality, ethics, or character can’t be codified. Laws, rules, and regulations are always lowest common denominators. Attempts to legislate moral behavior simply create a cottage industry aimed at finding loopholes or avoiding detection.

I think that’s one of our biggest dilemmas as a society. We seem to believe that “legal” equals “ethical” and debate endlessly the government’s proper role in determining “right” behavior. But it’s simply a fact that the best laws can do is determine minimum standards, and those can never be the same as proper ethics.

As a wheelchair user, I see this principle constantly in the public access requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). People use reserved parking spaces “legally” because they have someone else’s permit. Ramps or doors meet ADA requirements but are difficult to access because or location. Accessible seats at a ballpark are more desirable because they have a bit more legroom.

This isn’t intended as a complaint. I appreciate the ADA both for access requirements and for the awareness it’s created. The ADA is really a legal acknowledgment of society’s collective belief that everyone should be able to contribute to, and participate in, public activities.

But the ADA, like any law, can’t change the hearts of those who seek ways to circumvent its spirit. Morality isn’t concerned much with what I’m allowed to do, because it’s about doing what I know I ought to do. Ethics isn’t about my rights; it’s about what’s right.

Ethical questions are difficult, because they arise in the grey areas that can’t be legislated. Some would argue that right and wrong are relative, but I disagree. Just because a concept can’t be neatly wrapped in words with no ambiguities or gaps doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent or irrelevant.

I believe that absolute truth and right exist. I also believe that the best I can do is a closer approximation of behaviors that align with what’s right. My goals are to proclaim truth and do right as I understand them and to always seek deeper, better understanding.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about my filter for ethical choices.

What’s your take on ethics, morals, and laws?

One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Martin Luther King, Jr. 

I hope you’ll take a look at my new e-book titled STICKS AND STONES: Finding Freedom In The Face Of Criticism. It’s a free PDF download. You can click the link in the sidebar or go to my resources page to download.

Did you enjoy this article? Please leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net.

Subscribe to receive updates by Email

Related articles:

Where Aren’t You Trying To Go?

The Strength To Be Gentle

Criticism vs Feedback

A friend reminded me yesterday of the subtle, subversive nature of sin. He pointed out how the world offers many shiny promises of hope and fulfillment. Money, possessions, and accomplishments dangle before us constantly, cleverly tempting us to swallow the lure of false security.

I thought about his observation in terms of The Story of the Jar. I won’t repeat the story, but please click the link if you’re not familiar with this image.

Jesus spoke directly to our tendency to fill our jar with shallow, meaningless rubble until there’s no space for the truth.

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:19-21

I so frequently fill my jar with the artifacts of darkness, as though a newer car or a bigger bank account will supplant gnawing emptiness. I seek acknowledgment and approval, hoping in desperation that a human spotlight can drive away fearsome shadows. I’m certain that enough success will somehow cast out the fear lurking in dark corners of my heart.

Cars and bank accounts enhance emptiness because there’s never enough. The spotlight only sharpens the shadows. Each accomplishment highlights lingering failure. Human attempts to fill the jar are simply false.

There’s only one source of light and truth. I can never fill the jar properly, but fortunately I don’t need to. Jesus fills my jar, and the entire world, with the true light. He stepped down into my darkness and offered a simpler way. My frantic efforts to shovel the world’s version of meaning into my jar aren’t required.

I want to live by His truth and come into His light.

Question: What’s one way you scramble to fill your jar that doesn’t work ?

Please leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net. 

Subscribe to receive updates by Email

If I’ve learned anything from the accident that confined me to a wheelchair, it’s the principle that my journey is not the product of luck or fate or blind random chance.

The path I follow is determined by my choices.

Do I believe I made a choice to break my neck? Of course not—my injury resulted from a freak accident. No one caused me to tumble awkwardly from a roof, and I absolutely do not believe that paralysis was God’s plan for me. Evil rules this world; accidents happen, and too frequently one person acts in ways that harm others.

I also believe that the world abounds with good. People make decisions that bless and enrich others. With a subtle twist, the result of my fall might have been a bruise or a broken leg. That’s the nature of accidents.

But the incidents and events I encounter do not determine the nature of my journey. I alone make the choices that define the course.

The enemy wants me to believe that I’m a product of circumstance, a prisoner of luck or past events. He desperately screams that I’m damaged and broken beyond repair, that I’m a prisoner of misfortune and guilt. His misinformation campaign tells me I’ll never escape from the iron bars forged by accidents and mistakes.

Like all effective propaganda, this lie begins with truth. I am a broken person. Rocks and boulders litter portions of my path. Some are the result of my own bad decisions, others are just accidents, and a few of them may be intentionally placed by cruelty or evil. But that’s not the entire truth.

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8: 31b-32

Jesus is the truth; if I know Him, I’m free. I am not hostage to the past, and I’m not a prisoner of the enemy’s lie that attempts to define me by circumstance. I choose Jesus. I know the truth. I’m free. That’s the truth that defines the nature of my journey.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Jesus offers freedom from the past, freedom from bondage to circumstances. I can choose to travel my path in Jesus’ footsteps, and that choice defines the path.

I still make mistakes, and bad things still happen. But God redeems broken circumstances and broken people—that’s the message of SetFreeToday.

Jesus doesn’t offer a magic shield from tragedy, misfortune, and the consequences of error. He simply offers to walk with us, to show us the way of freedom from the enemy’s lie.

That’s the truth—the truth that sets us free!

Question: What’s one issue or event that threatens to define you as a prisoner of circumstance?

*******************************************************

Dylan continues progress that’s encouraging but far too slow. His parents still face difficult medical choices. Please continue to support them in prayer. To put a very cute little face with your prayers, visit Dylan’s website: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dylanm

Mike and his family confront the difficult reality of life with a spinal cord injury. Thank you for your continued prayers. If you’d like to read more about Mike and offer some words of encouragement, here’s a link to his story: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mikekabat

Please leave a comment, visit my website, and/or send me an email at rich@richdixon.net. 

Subscribe to receive updates by Email