Is truth real? Is there a clear right and a clear wrong? Or does that no longer exist?
One of the main reasons I wanted to name this blog and my book “In between the lines” is because that is where our lives exist when we work in the secular world. We spend quite a bit of time every single day hearing “truth” that is not always truth. Hearing goals, expectations, ways of thinking that are defined by the world, and not by the Bible that we believe. We often live hearing more untruth during the hours we work than it seems could possibly be undone by the few hours we spend in the Bible and at church each week. We live in the grey space between God’s truth and the world’s truth. We live in between the lines. And it would be a horrible place to exist if we were left there to fend on our own. But thankfully, our God is not cruel like that, and has given us multiple avenues to know what is truth, what to fight for, and when to fight.
And I love Captain American: Winter Solider, because the entire movie is an incredible play on the subject of knowing truth and right vs wrong. Captain America is working as part of SHIELD. The organization is meant to be the go-to for national defense, but have started working on a project that takes care of threats on the offense. He initially thought his job was going to be to save people, right threats, and fight attacking forces. Instead, he is faced with the thought of punishing people who haven’t committed a crime yet as becoming the new “ultimate good.” But however good it sounds to everyone else, it doesn’t sit well with him.
Steve (Captain America) is often referred to as old fashioned. He was literally raised in a different decade, and is trying to learn how to appropriately deal with the new times. But as much as he tries to push forward, something just doesn’t sit right with him. And why is that? Because God gave each one of us a conscience, and if we listen to it, it can help remind us of truth.
The best part of this movie is the elevator scene. Steve has been trying to push forward at his job, assuming that feeling in the pit of his stomach is just old-fashioned fear of change. But then when he gets on the elevator it doesn’t feel right. He starts to see the signs- the nervous sweating of one man, the fingers ready to pull a weapon on another- and suddenly, that “old-fashioned feeling” that something is wrong becomes reality as his coworkers literally attack him. He’s Captain America, so of course things go just fine. But suddenly the rest of the feelings he was having about the company and the mission because much more relevant. What is truly right and what is wrong because more obvious. It sounds fine for each individual to decide whatever they think is right- until you run into the individuals who decided that it was “right” to kill you. Everything can’t be right. Luckily, everything isn’t life or death in our world, so how can we tell where the line of right vs wrong lies?
**Spoiler alert** Later in the movie, Steve sneaks back into the company to make an announcement. He tells them that SHIELD has been compromised, and he puts it in their hands to choose to decide what action is going to be right for each of them. “The price of freedom is high, it always has been. And if I’m the only one (willing to fight for it) then so be it. But I’m willing to bet I’m not.”
He puts it in their hands to change plans and believe what he says instead of what they have been told. To trust their gut, and figure out for themselves who is trust-worthy and who is not. They don’t have time to go research each person’s track record, get a second opinion, or sit and discuss it. All they have is moments to decide what is true.
And far too often, so do you. You have moments to decide what’s going to be the correct response to the question, the correct way to deal with a coworker, the correct intervention or strategy. Moments to decide whether to speak the truth or hide in fear.
We can try to define good or bad our own way. But we all clearly know, just like they did in the movie, when things are obviously wrong. We all have a conscience that is programmed to tell us if something is true and trustworthy or not. However, we can ignore that voice over and over until it seems to stop showing up. The Bible predicts, “But they refused to pay attention, stubbornly they turned their back and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or the words that the Lord Almighty had sent” (Zechariah 7:11-12. That still small voice is God’s first way of showing us how to pick decisions.
God also gave us another way to discern and that is the Bible. The Bible outlines tons of responses, ways of thinking, and priorities we should have both in our relationships and in our work. Often, if we look up scripture about topics, we will find God’s heart for whether to stand or whether to fight in a certain situation that we are unsure how to deal with.
Third, God left us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was left when Jesus returned to heaven and Jesus predicted that he would be peace, strength, power, and wisdom for us. The Holy Spirit can give us nudges in specific situations that the Bible may not specifically have outlined as to where we should go. It can also give us supernatural peace when we’re in a good place, or supernatural uncertainty when things need to be changed.
Then ultimate question becomes- what are you going to do when you get put into a situation where you know that it’s wrong? Are you going to do it anyway? Are you going to ignore it? Are you going to pretend there are no right and wrong areas, and everything’s okay? Or are you going to stand and fight for something bigger than your fears, your hesitation, and your doubts? Are you going down with your own version of right like SHIELD did, or will you listen to that small voice and stand strong like Captain America? You’ve got the choice, multiple times every day, if you’ll just stop and listen.
“The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, and good fruits, impartial, and sincere”. Jeremiah 17:9