Pastor Sid's Journal

Back to Work Part 2 - Tell it Like it Is

Brenda and I met a woman on our vacation who was quite eccentric. When we got around to what I did for a living she was interested in the fact I was a minister. She then spoke about her Christian beliefs and where she was now attending church. She also made a point of telling us how she didn't like everything at that church and she wasn't scared to say so because she was someone who "tells it like it is."

*internal chuckle* I always find this to be such a curious phrase because most of the people who feel the need to claim that they "tell it like it is," tend to usually tell it like they think it should be or tell it as they interpret it to be. The phrase "tell it like it is" rarely seems to be "what it is" but somehow those that "tell it like it is" seem to assume that they're doing a favour for every one else because they voice their opinion.

What also strike me is that some of the people who say the least, tend to be the people who truly "tell it like it is." When they do finally speak, their words are rarely prefaced by anything that remotely smells like the phrase "I tell it like it is," and their words are usually well worth listening to. I have always longed to be one of those people and I hope that the Lord continues to work on me (for I still feel that I have too much of the apostle Peter's disease, you know, The Foot in Mouth disease).

I think that this is where the church has too often bought into society's model of leadership. We tend to ignore the quiet people. What if the people of God took more time to seek out the quiet people in our midst so that we could listen to them "tell it like it is?" Just a thought.