Monday, April 22, 2013

"Truthfulness"--Authority


Truthfulness vs. Deception Meditation Commentary
Truthfulness is communicating by my life and word that which is genuine and accurate.
•“Lord, who shall abide in they tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.”—Psalm 15:1-2
•“The lip of truth shall be established forever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”—Proverbs 22:19, 22
            It can be tempting to fall into many incorrect mentalities when under authority.  One of the mentalities we often fall into has to do with believing we can shun certain moral responsibilities as long as we are giving the appearance of submitting to authority.  Sometimes it seems easier to simply deceive the authorities over us when we think we know what is best rather than going through the proper channels.  However, if we understand the true principles of authority and submission, and truthfulness vs. deception, we recognize that truthfulness involves openness with authorities.  A definition of integrity that has stuck with me through the years is: ‘doing what is right when nobody else is watching.’  This mean we are not only honest on a surface level when interacting with authorities, but will be open with them on a deeper level, demonstrating truthfulness in our lives even when they are not watching, and refusing to stoop to deception simply because we have an improper understanding of authority.  We think of authorities sometimes as out of touch and lofty—like a king on a throne.  We tell ourselves that they do not really understand our situation, and that we know what is best in this particular instance, and therefore, we deceive them because we believe they will not understand.  Authorities are placed in our lives with their rules and guidelines for a reason, though, and there are practical reasons for the rules, even if we do not understand them.  Children do this with their parents, maybe believing they are justified in staying out later than they are supposed to, or hanging out with people, watching a movie, or going to the mall without permission, but losing credibility with the authority over them because they were not truthful.  A worker may do this with a boss by doing something like making unauthorized decisions, which may even be good decisions, but without openness and truthfulness, doing this could cause problems in the workplace.  This concept does not mean that one cannot disagree with his or her authorities, but that he or she should be truthful with authorities.  If you do not agree with your authorities, rather than going behind their backs, approach them about it.  Oftentimes, authorities are reasonable, but regardless of the situation, it is always better to be honest and upfront, rather than hiding things, which could cause issues when the deception is inevitably brought to light. 
I have a friend who told me a story about this concept which stayed with me.  He was on a missions trip and there was a rule that he could not leave the hotel without someone else accompanying him.  The rule was well-established and he knew it was there, but it was very difficult to find time or a place alone to pray with everyone around, so occasionally, he would take a short walk so he could spend some time alone with God, without asking the group leaders.  He justified it, because, of course, he was doing something good.  But towards the end of the trip he began to be convicted about it, and decided to confess and apologize to the group leader for going off without permission.  The group leader forgave and understood him, and said he wished that the young man would simply have told him, and explained the situation so that they could work something out.  This highlighted what submitting to authorities vs just complying with them really means.  We will not always agree with authorities, and that's okay.  But rather than act like we're submitting to them, and just agreeing with whatever they say, a big part of submission is acknowledging their authority enough to come to them with problems.
In conclusion, be truthful, be honest, and have integrity when relating to authority.

2 comments:

  1. I thought perhaps I should comment on here, instead of writing drafts of ridiculous ghost posts that are destined to be deleted... This is probably a much better use of my time and effort. ;)

    Anyway. You know what, Michael? I love how medcomms have forced us to write about what we've been learning. They've forced my thoughts beyond my head and onto, um, symbolic paper. I guess we'll have to be way more intentional about that sort of thing after this week, yes?

    Cheerio.

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    Replies
    1. Stephanie, I didn't see this comment until well after you had posted it! (Clearly, by my late response, haha.) And that post was golden by the way. There's no way I'm posting it, but it was golden.

      You're absolutely right. I came to conclusions and made connections about things I never would have if we hadn't been forced to right it down! Of course, sometimes I didn't know what I was writing down, like at 3 in the morning, but, hey, overall it was beneficial. Indeed, I'm trying to use the blog as a means of intentionality in that area...if that even makes sense.

      Well, top of the whenever to ya! Thanks for commenting, and please drop by again soon! :)

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