Tag Lines

It is easy to dismiss tag lines.  They are often far too simple, generalized, and stereotypical to apply or be consistently true about anything.  The thread within the words often has an authentic ring, yet there always seems to be a “but” at the beginning or end.  Often their effectiveness comes in how we remember and what it does to us.
 
Remember the tag line from an older movie?  Something along the lines of “You want the truth?  You can’t handle the truth!”  As soon as I hear the words “you can handle the truth” I feel the venom in the actor’s words, the sense of the courtroom drama, and the emotional pressure bursting out on the seams of the lives portrayed.  Given that much of life is censored in different ways and methods, I am not so sure the statement is far from reality as we know it.
 
We say movies should be graded, tagged in a way, in order to help the viewer or parent make a judgment if it will be watched.  I wonder if there is any age where watching violence, death, abuse, broken trust or lies is “good”.  There is part of life appropriate for adults because they are mature, etc. but I wonder if we have mixed in with this maturity much that is ugly and negative.  If something is unhealthy for children, is it automatically healthy for adults?  We encourage children to always tell the truth and wonder why they are puzzled after being inundated with advertising that is misleading at best.
 
In the midst of this it is easy to dismiss God’s gift to us as just another tag line.  The words might sound harsh but there is a reason “why can't you understand one word I [God] say?  Here's why: You can't handle it.”  (John 8.43)
 
Mercy is frightening; it might change my life.
Acceptance is scary; I might be part of a family.
Love is unnerving; I may be touched.
 
Today I want to know and experience the truth.  I want to understand and live.