Why “Hammering the Truth” Only Deepens the Wounds
From Sin Management to Self-Compassion
Have you ever found yourself sitting in church, listening to the preacher, and suddenly thought, “This is total BS!?”
I had that moment recently when a preacher said something that nagged at me long after the service was over. During a sermon, I heard the preacher declare: “You just can’t be too gracious with people. You have to give them the truth as well! If you don’t hammer them with the truth, how will they know about their sin? Grace doesn’t convict people of their sin. Only truth does!”
At first, I dutifully nodded along with the preacher. After all, I was brought up as a good evangelical girl and had drummed into me the fact that we are all sinners who need to be forgiven.
At the same time, something about the preacher’s words nagged at me. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. Then it hit me.
Maybe it’s a by-product of constantly being told that I am a wicked sinner, but I feel like I have a continuous loop of judgemental dialogue running through my head: “You can’t do anything right! You’re a failure. God must be very disappointed in you!”
I am my harshest critic. I am my worst enemy. So when someone tells me the “truth,” I want to run and hide. I want to…
