One of the saddest and most painful passages in all of American literature is found at the very end of Hawthorne’s novel, THE SCARLET LETTER. The Reverend Dimmesdale had lived a lie for many years, pretending to a life of virtue while leaving the woman he “loved” to reap the scorn of an adulteress in a Puritan community. When at last his end came, the final words from his agonized heart revealed what his sin had taught him, “Be true, be true, be true.”
That is the very advice that Jesus gave to us, not just by his words but by his deeds, by the very shape of his life. At almost any moment up until his last hours, Jesus could have saved his life and secured a long, comfortable life just by “fudging” the truth a little, going along to get along. He could have saved his life and gone home to his mother, found a wife and been a beautiful father. And he would have lost his soul. He knew that it sounded good, but that it was a bad bargain.
Just a few weeks ago, on Ash Wednesday, your forehead was marked with ashes in the sign of a cross. You were marked as a follower of Jesus. Remember that mark always and the commitment to a life of integrity that that mark speaks.
Living each day truthfully, not just telling the truth, but being true, is the only way of living that will grow into eternity!