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It is much appreciated when people who do social media posts reveal that their lives are less than perfect. So many posts on Facebook and Instagram fuel the lie that other people’s lives are ideal. Their families are ideal. Their meals are ideal. Their vacations are ideal. Their date nights are ideal. The truth is that a lot of life is mundane and less than ideal. When people tell the truth and include even the messy parts of life it’s actually encouraging because we realize that being human is less than ideal.

Both David and Samuel made it into the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. They obtained a commendation from God because they believed Him. They trusted God. They were men of faith. Biblical faith is always accompanied by a choice of one kind or another. People who believe God either do or don’t do something because they have made a choice to trust God. When we wait on God, we wait by faith.

Pastor Fenelon wrote, “Your motives are not entirely pure in wanting to see people perfected for God’s glory; people’s faults bother you because you are too fussy and hard to please.” Ouch. The truth hurts sometimes. Fenelon is right though, isn’t he?! We want people to deal with their imperfections because they bug us.

Some people loathe it. Some people like it. Confrontation can be a messy business. Motives, manner, messages and timing provide mixed results. It’s hard to know if we’re saying something right. It’s hard to know how another person will receive what we are saying. Even when confrontation is loving and well done, there is a risk involved. Receiving a confrontation is also tricky. Our natural tendency is to be defensive, to justify our actions, or at worst, to attack.

The Bible is a gift to us. It convicts, instructs, encourages, fills our eyes and minds with wonder and discloses to us the nature and character of the Creator of all things. And, the Bible describes people in all their humanity. Some scholars point to the honest treatment of the Bible characters as one of the proofs of inspiration. Humans typically describe other humans, especially at death, in the most glowing of terms—read some obituaries! However, the Bible contains stories about important people that are less than flattering.