There are a few conversations that I’ll never forget. One in particular occurred during my senior year of high school.

I had a solid career in high school…started three years, won two state championships, made the All-State team. Yet, none of those are particularly important to Major League scouts. Unfortunately for me, I stopped growing in 8th grade; guys under 6 feet tall need to have blazing speed, which I didn’t. Consequently, I needed to be honest with myself.

Enter, my dad. “You aren’t going to the Big Leagues.” That’s what he told me. As a kid, that’s all I dreamed about. But, there I was having my dad, of all people, telling me those dreams would never be a reality. In our world today, conversations with such honesty are rare. Sometimes the truth hurts. For me, this time the truth helped.

I chose to play in college not based upon the unrealistic dream of playing in the Majors, but on the realistic dream of playing as many games as possible before my time was done. Because of that conversation I’ll never forget, I was able to start and play all four years in college. Thanks to my dad for helping me have a realistic view of the kind of player I was.

In Matthew 5:5, Jesus says, “The gentle are blessed, for they will inherit the earth.” He describes here those who are gentle, or those who have a realistic view of themselves as sinners and are therefore gentle and compassionate to others. There’s something about knowing you’re a sinner and the recipient of undeserved grace from God that changes the way you think and act toward others (or at least it should).

Those who operate this way will “inherit the earth,” that is, they will experience and receive things from life here that money cannot buy. People who are unrealistic about who they are and what they deserve spend their lives chasing after dying things, only to wind up empty in the end.

This is one time when the truth helps.