There is an image that has been circulating around the past week or two that deeply moved me.  It is a picture of Ukrainian Christians praying, on their knees, in the snow, for their country as Russia continued their aggression and advance.  If you haven’t seen it yet you can see it here. 

The image is powerful and moving.

It is a humbling, evocative summons to those who live beneath the Lordship of Jesus Christ to join them in prayer. 

But while it is all these things, this image is one more thing: it’s at least two years old. 

You see, the image is of Christians, who are in Ukraine, and they are praying, but it is not as recent as the social media posts have claimed.  (Please know that the original publishers of the photo/post have expressed no desire to mislead anyone, described it as an inadvertent error, and ask for the world to continue praying - as we certainly must!) 

To be completely honest, my initial, internal response was one of feeling betrayed – that I’d been played and taken advantage of.  Feelings of anger and frustrated well up within me.  But the more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve found myself questioning my feelings of betrayal and anger.

In response to what I saw, I was moved to prayer.  Can that ever really be a bad thing – to be moved to prayer?

My complacency and indifference were challenged.  The geographical distance that had numbed my sense of urgency was unsettled.  Through that misrepresented image, the Holy Spirit of God moved me towards prayer and compassionate grief for those enduring this horrible situation.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not suggesting the ends justify the means.  We Christians are not free to misrepresent circumstances so long as it moves people to a more desirable end.  After all, we are called to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

However, this experience has caused me to wonder if I’ve confused or even traded what is true for what is truth.  Jesus said that He is the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).  Something being true and Jesus being the Truth aren’t necessarily the same thing. 

In the case of this viral image, while the way it was presented wasn’t totally accurate/true, what was true was that I was moved towards prayer and compassion – towards Jesus Christ Himself. 

Because there is so much misinformation out in our world today, I often find myself slow to believe and react to what I hear and see.  This slowness, especially when considering the words of James (be slow to speak and slow to anger), may not be all that bad.  However, I wonder if this reluctancy of being fooled or my concern of only knowing part of the story is making me slow to love? 

James doesn’t just teach us to be slow to speak and slow to anger.  He first commands us to be quick to listen.  But this begs a question:

Be quick to listen to whom? 

When I was moved to prayer by the image of those Christians praying in Ukraine, the image itself may not have been presented accurately, but it wasn’t the image alone I was listening to – it was the Holy Spirit.  It wasn’t simply what I saw or read that moved me to prayer; it was the God’s Spirit.

We must be quick to listen to the Spirit, not simply our go-to news station.  Please understand, I’m not here to vilify your preferred news media, but I am trying to challenge us to reconsider the voices we allow to speak into our lives, so we can better discern not only what is true and false, but between what is true and what is Truth.  Deception doesn’t deal entirely in falsehoods, but in conflating what is true for what is truth - just ask Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3)

Truth is not mere facts and information; truth is a person named Jesus Christ. 

Yes, the facts surrounding that image weren’t completely true.

But what is true is that God has called us to be a people of prayer. (Matthew 21:13)

What is true is that God has called us to be a people of compassionate love. (Exodus 34:6)

What is true is that God has called us forward in life in a way that rejects violence. (1 Peter 3:9) 

What is true is that God has called us to be His kingdom people who pray for and embody “earth as it is in heaven”. (Matthew 6:10)

We might not know the whole story

We might not have all the facts

We might not be aware of every detail

We might not always know what is true

But despite all these very possible realities, we must not allow our fear of being misled cause us to become people who inadvertently misrepresent God in the world.  We don’t need to know everything to live as people who are known by our love (John 13:35).

So, as we step into this season of Lent, may we do so…

… Humbly, fully aware of the limits of our own knowledge. 

… Prayerfully, fully aware of own need for God’s grace.

… Lovingly, fully aware that, “in the end, these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”