Not a Straight Line

Scripture References: Ezekiel 2:4-7; Revelation 4:2-3

In reading Conflict and Crisis, the account of Harry Truman’s presidency, one appreciates Sir Edmund Burke’s statement that most political decisions are choices “between the disagreeable and the intolerable.” How thoroughly politics impacts American life! Politically profitable stances, even if wrong, are assumed; politically questionable positions, even if right, are abandoned. Truman wanted a vigorous civil rights platform in his campaign, but he said little about it to avoid offending Southerners. In the latter part of the campaign, he vilified Hoover for causing the Depression. Later, he confided to an aide, “I didn’t mean a word of it. Hoover didn’t have any more to do with the Depression than you and I did.” But it was politically expedient, so he rode the charge like a pony at Santa Anita. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the political animal: find the opponent’s weak spot and slug him there until he drops. Politics can never be a straight line, for it invariably moves like a river, following the path of least resistance. The purpose of the politician is to have maximum success with minimum offense.

God’s Word is always a straight line. He won’t make scurrilous charges just to make the enemy look bad, or comprise his purity to make the enemy look better and less horrible than he really is. And God certainly won’t reduce his requirements to win converts. Our questions to God are always different; God’s answers to us are always the same.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.