Together With Lisa KaiSample

“TRUTH” VERSUS “CLARITY”

Lately, I’ve been praying a lot for clarity. I’ve been asking God to shed revelation and bring resolution to certain areas of my life, and God gave me an unexpected answer. He spoke to me and said, “You should be asking for truth instead of clarity.” I was a little confused, but then I asked Him, “What does that mean?” God showed me that “truth” will bring clarity, not the other way around. Clarity is only as good as the lens of the beholder. If the lens is foggy, the picture will be distorted. However, when you ask for God’s truth, you’ll begin to see through God’s lens, a true and perfect picture. 

Often, people we encounter are confused and need clarity on a job, a relationship or a situation. But sometimes, we fail to see things clearly merely because we don’t like what the truth has to say. Why? Because we want what we want. In Colossians 4:6, it says to “...let every word you speak be drenched with grace and tempered with truth and clarity.” It doesn’t say “clarity” and then “truth.” Clarity can sometimes disguises itself as asking permission to do what you want and not what God wants. Truth, on the other hand, is black and white, straight-forward and direct.  

How will you respond to your friends and sisters today when they ask you to pray for them on a situation?  How will you respond when a friend brings truth to your situation?  

If we want to deepen our friendships or relationships, we need to get better at speaking truth rather than offering our own clarity to a situation. Being a good friend means speaking truth and love to one another. 

Let’s be “that” friend who will speak truth in love and grace. Let’s not waste our time on wanting just “clarity,” but learn to seek “truth” first.