… [S]peaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head,vinto Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it isvequipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up invlove. (Ephesians 4:15-16)
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. (2 John 1:3)
I have engaged in pastoral “prayer & counsel” ministry for over twenty-five years. The people I meet in this capacity primarily struggle with a combination of anxiety, depression, frustration, negativity, and/or poor self-image. For most, the origin of their struggles was a childhood spent in a home where anger, fear, and distrust were the daily norm.
What is true for a homelife can also be true for a culture or nation. Our television and social media screens have, for longer than we care to admit, incessantly poured out one-sided messages that provoke anger at what “the other side” is doing, fear at what will happen if “the other side” gains power, and distrust of anyone who does not agree with the person on the screen who is speaking. Since the average American spends seven hours per day looking at a screen, these messages of anger, fear, and distrust are our daily norm.
Polls suggest 70-75% of Americans believe our nation has been on the wrong track.
While most people relate this to issues of the economy, immigration, and abortion, we must also remember how our general mood toward life impacts how we look at every issue. Life in an atmosphere of anger, fear, and distrust will hardly ever produce happiness, peace, or optimism.
As is always the case, God offers a better way – the way of Jesus – that combines truth and agape love. (John 14:6; 1 John 4:10) Our Father and Jesus send us grace, mercy, and peace in a package of truth and agape love. (2 John 1:3) Paul tells us that we grow up from childishness into knowledge of and intimacy with Jesus as we speak the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:13-16)
The Bible will not allow us to separate these life-essential ingredients of truth and love. God is love. (1 John 4:8, 16) He is also the God of truth. (Isaiah 65:16) God so loved us that He sent Jesus to save us. (John 3:16) Jesus is the truth. (14:6) Our faith in Jesus allows us to know the truth that sets us free. (John 8:30-32) Our faith works through love. (Galatians 5:6)
Jesus declares the Father and He are one. (John 10:30) Since Father God is love and Jesus is the truth, we can even argue that God’s love and God’s truth are “one”. And while that may seem a stretch, the Bible very clearly states that you cannot have one without the other.
1 Corinthians 13:2 says we can have incredible amounts of truth, but if we do not have agape love, we are nothing. Four verses later, 1 Corinthians 13:6 says agape love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Truth without God’s love is not God’s truth, and love without God’s truth is not God’s love.
We are emerging from an election campaign where a little more than half of our nation wanted former President Trump to be President again, and a little less than half did not. Both God’s Word and our nation’s Constitution tell us to honor our election outcomes, and God urges all Christians on both “sides” to pray for all our elected governmental leaders. (1 Timothy 2:1-2; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17) I hope all of us will do so.
My greater concern, however, is whether we can do anything to change this national
atmosphere of anger, fear, and distrust. Jeremiah asked whether a leopard could change its spots. (Jeremiah 13:23) But Christians are not leopards. We are new creations in Christ, and scripture tells us repeatedly to change and live as who we really are, not as who we once were. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:20-32; Colossians 3:1-17; Galatians 5:13-25; 2 Peter 1:2-11) All of these wonderful scriptures describe humble lives of truth and love: treating other people the way we wish to be treated. (Matthew 7:12) If enough of us do that, the atmosphere can change.
As a small part of this effort, my daughter Jes Williams and I launched a new podcast on November 1 called Let’s Talk: Truth in Love. It is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and through a link on our ministry website (Please pardon the plug). Our goal, just like my goal with these columns, is that we can encourage a better way to live and live together.
God bless you, and God bless our community.