“Telling it like it is” has become something of a pop culture virtue. People describe, with pride, themselves or another as one who “tells it like it is.” It appears to me to be an excuse for being rude and not being sensitive to other people’s feelings.
The real problem with “telling it like it is” is nobody can “tell it like it is” because nobody really knows how “it” is. What we are spouting is our biased opinion as seen through the tinted glasses we all wear. Each of us has a limited perspective on everything. We cannot know or understand all aspects of something. And our personal feelings cloud everything. Just watch American Idol when they are still auditioning in the various cities. People with not one ounce of musical talent are rejected and often times, if their parents are there, the parents are shocked and horrified that the judges did not share their opinions about their child.
We view political issues from the right or left and mistakenly think we are in the center. If I think you are “telling it like it is” it means you and I share the same distorted viewpoint. The High Priest and the Sanhedrin really did think Jesus was a threat to the stability of the nation and He had to be taken out. When Caiaphas said, “It is better for one man to perish than the whole nation” I’m sure one of the council must have thought, “Ah ha; he’s telling it like it is!”
Now that I have said all this I am going to “tell it like it really is.” Ready, set, go. Jesus loves you very much. There. That’s the way “it really is.”
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 3, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org