Faith in Hostile TimesSample

Speaking the Truth in Love

If you’re in the habit of winning arguments, it’s worth pausing to ask yourself: Why is winning especially important to me, and what does it do for my relationship with the person I’m arguing with? Most of us love to debate and dispute and convince others how wrong they are, and how right we are. But Jesus shows us a better way, and we can learn from Him how to remain faithful to our convictions – never diluting God’s truth – while communicating that same truth in a way that attracts people to Him.

It’s likely you’ve used the expression, speaking the truth in love. It’s likely you’ve also learned that this is easier in theory than in practice. And when you start talking about lovingly communicating the truth, you may well be accused of going soft on doctrine. So how do we do it?

Diluting God’s Word dishonours Him. Paul writes to the Corinthians, ‘Unlike so many, we do not peddle the Word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.’ (2 Corinthians 2:17) If we call ourselves followers of Jesus, then we are people who sincerely live for Him and proclaim His truth. It’s impossible to live that way if we water down the truth to suit an audience that subscribes to the idea of relative truth. We need to stay steady, remembering that the loudness of people’s voices doesn’t make their opinions true. In 2 Timothy 1, Paul also encourages his protégé, Timothy, to keep coming back to the yardstick of God’s truth, and we must do the same, relying on the Holy Spirit’s power to help us understand, apply, and proclaim that truth. As Charles Spurgeon said, ‘It is the whole job of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.’

That said, it’s crucial to remember that the people who position themselves antagonistically against us – opponents of God’s truth – may be offensive, but they’re also heading for an eternity without Jesus if the eyes of their hearts aren’t opened. These people aren’t the enemy. Arguing with them is useless. Instead, listen. Seek to understand. We shouldn’t think our principal task in seeing someone come to know Jesus is to speak, and we shouldn’t kid ourselves that our anger will ever produce the outcome we desire. We don’t argue people into the Kingdom of God. We love them in – and love is more about listening and understanding than about winning every argument or venting our anger.

Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves that we can’t change people. Only God can do that. And we most certainly can’t change people by shouting at them. Let’s determine never to water down the truth of the Gospel, but to tell it bravely and gently, to those who are hurting and even to those who hate us, wherever and whenever we have opportunity.