Speaking the Truth in Love

“What is truth?” You probably recognize those infamous words of Pontius Pilate, responding to Jesus when He had just declared, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me” (John 18:37).
The devil has been quite successful in getting a good part of our culture, as well as the world, to buy into the lie that “truth” is really unattainable. Why? Because, according to popular thought, everyone has their own ideas of what truth is. This philosophy is then coupled with the “politically-correct” crowd’s insistence that no one has the right to claim the existence of absolute truth, and everyone should be forbidden from sharing/teaching such “nonsense” to others. By demonic design, these social pressures have been intimidating.
But Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, emphasis added). A scan of the four Gospels reveals that Jesus proclaimed the phrase, “I tell you the truth” no fewer than 79 times. But those are simply the places where He emphasized that point. The truth is: everything Jesus said was absolutely true!
The devil is fully aware that there is absolute truth, especially the absolute truth that he was defeated by Jesus, through the sacrifice of His perfect life on Calvary’s cross and His resurrection from the dead, leaving His tomb empty. He knows that the words of Jesus are absolutely true: “Whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).
The Eternal Truth became a human being so that He could serve as our Substitute; defeating sin, death, and the devil himself! The truth is: all who believe in Jesus; all who believe the truth that He is the God–Man, who died on the cross to pay for all our sins and rose from the grave alive again, personally have their sins forgiven, receive new life in Christ, and have the certainty of life everlasting!
We have been rescued from the clutches of the devil! Death has been swallowed up in Christ’s victory and has now become only a doorway to eternal life! And it’s the liar, Satan, who has been condemned eternally.
Despite the devil’s attempts to pollute the world with a deadly fog of lies, we, who have received the true light of Christ by faith, are directed by Jesus, to proclaim His life-giving truth to a lost and dying world. We do this not in arrogance, haughtiness, or vengeance, but, as St. Paul counsels, “Speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
Christ’s love is our motivation and is what sustains all our efforts to speak the truth and share the Gospel—even in the face of opposition, which we know will come—because we know that our gracious God “wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Timothy 2:4). Continue to grow in God’s Word and engage others with Jesus, because He is the only truth that sets us free and saves us for all eternity!
Reverend Rodney Flohr
King of Grace Lutheran Church
Golden Valley, MN