Rebuke A Wise Man, And He Will Love Thee

The old man pointed at me angrily.

“You think you’re always right, don’t you? It’s because you’re a pastor!”, he shouted.

“Yes, I do think I’m always right”, I replied, gently. “If I didn’t think my opinions were correct, I wouldn’t share them.”

The man in question had once wanted to be a pastor, but God never opened the door, and I detected a tinge of bitterness, accusation, even, in his pronouncing that final word. To be fair to him, he was not well, but he had needed to hear a home truth or two, and I had indulged him long enough.

He went on to say that I had no right to offer him advice unless I was going through his illness. I explained that using that logic, I could never offer anyone advice unless I had lived their exact life.

The old man was still angry, and he walked out, his wife in tow.

I reflected. Would it have been better to have held my tongue and agreed with everything he said? Doubtless, he would have stayed another half-hour if I had done so. But sometimes, I concluded, the plain truth needs saying, even if it is unwelcome and unsolicited. I am not here to flatter, to endorse, to affirm. I am here to speak the truth, because I am servant to Him who is the Truth. Plain verity may sometimes be spoken with hauteur, or with a design of wounding and exposing. Its timing can be inappropriate and its wording insensitive. Sometimes, however, it really must be presented before one who does not like the sound of it.