Tag: truth

Love and Truth

Something I struggle with is how to share the truth of the gospel all while being loving at the same time. It’s not something I have always done well. Often times love and truth are pitted against each other. As if you can’t have both, you can only pick one. If you tell someone the truth of the Word you have to compromise love. If you are loving well then you have to compromise being truthful. When in all actuality love and truth go hand in hand. God is love and God is truth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who ever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV) This is probably one of the most well known scriptures in the world and I have read it and seen it hundreds of times. Not until recently did I begin to understand it. In order to know God it requires more than a Sunday visit. It’s daily studying and mediation in his word. The greek word for so is (outos), which means thus or in this manner or like this. The verse doesn’t mean so, God loved the world. It means, in this manner God loved the world. God loved the world like this. How does he love the world? By giving the world his one and only son. What happens after that? Whoever believes in him will have eternal life. That is whoever believes in him will not only accept that truth but will live out that truth. God has just shown us love and truth in a single act. The giving of his Son, Jesus Christ. Love and truth are not opposing each other. If you believe in Jesus you believe in love. If you accept Jesus you are dedicated to his truth.

Jesus does not condemn. That is satan’s job. We are required to be transformed, to pick up our cross daily. That means dying to yourself. Not physically, but to our own selfish desires, to do the will of God. We are called to be in this world, not of it. So if that means making a sacrifice to a fleshly desire daily, that is what we must do.

Being a Christian is not easy and in this culture it gets harder every day. We will never win anyone to Christ by hammering a person over the head with truth and not showing any love. On the other hand we can love someone right into hell by not ever speaking truth. We must be in our bibles daily, spend time in prayer and have a good church community. God will show us how to “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15)

Dust Yourself Off And Try Again

I’m so thankful for my church. I’m so thankful for the people at my church. I have been in a complete spiral probably ever since the protests at the Capital. I decided I didn’t need God’s peace and understanding and would confront the headlines, the people, social media, all of the events going on with my worldly knowledge. I was just so flabbergasted and could not wrap my mind around what I was seeing and hearing. Lies, lies, I know if I post these things the lightbulb will go off and the veil will drop and they will see clearly. So why am I so thankful for my church and the people there? I get the best counsel at my church. Even if it’s not what I want to hear I get the truth. It’s the truth in love though. We all need the truth. We all need the truth in love.

By this morning I was crying about every ten minutes. Why? I don’t know. I think when I decided to go this alone and not let God be my source and let the world be my source of information and what I needed to do, my anxiety level went up and my fear was bubbling below the surface. What actually came out was anger. I usually pride myself in not posting controversial stuff on FB. Nothing to get extremely upset over (at least I think) and then I felt my anger was justified. I did not post horrible hateful things but they were sarcastic and would not serve to facilitate peace. I found myself becoming more and more agitated over the course of this last week. I was unsatisfied, unorganized and was feeling a bit of despair. This is the beginning of the end. Oh my lord, what if I can’t protect the people I love. What if they aren’t really saved? Oh my gosh I need to look at everyone around me and see who needs to be saved! So don’t act like you never have wacky thoughts. I know I’m not the only one. If you don’t, this blog may not be for you. I’m not crazy but ya know.

So this morning when I was counseled I was reminded of spiritual warfare. I was totally humbled when I thought about the scripture and my blog that I wrote about last week. Peace – Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27. My husband (Wyatt) likes to tell me FB is from the devil. He is probably right. I think Satan prowls around looking for ways to bring us down and FB sure is a grand place to do that. Pit one of us against another and use our own words against ourselves. I turned right around and let my heart be troubled and I was afraid. I was trying to open the eyes and ears of people who I thought needed fixin. My question this morning was, when are you supposed to speak? When do you say the truth? When do I stand up and say no, wrong is wrong and right is right? You will not make anyone hear or see if they are in a reactive state. I will not do any good or be heard if I am in a reactive state. That is part of what I gleaned this morning. I know that logically. That is what I did though. I put logic aside and understanding when I put God’s peace aside and decided to go at this from my own wisdom. So Satan has enjoyed his week on my FB.

This is such an opportune time for us as Christians to show up or show out. Don’t look now you’re going to screw that up and your going to be right on point. We are human. If at first you don’t succeed, then dust yourself off and try again. (I think that’s a song – Aaliyah). I don’t believe in coincidences or luck. I believe in God. Things come together because of God and I don’t believe todays scripture was a fluke. It was meant to be for today. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9. I also think God has a sense of humor. Look at this world. How can he not. Did God leave us his peace? Yes he did. Did he call us to be peacemakers? Yes he did. He also called me to put on his armor. If the attack is coming from FB I need to take a break from FB. If the attack is coming from the news, take a break from the news. Cut off the attack. So, I’m dusting myself off and not for the last time.