By Elizabeth Rice Handford
“Let’s be kinder,” a blogger recently burbled. “Let’s love each other more.”
Oh, how right she is! This poor old world desperately needs to see us Christians loving others, caring for the poor, compassionately watching for ways to help struggling people. Yes! Let’s be kinder. Let’s love each other more.
But then the blogger continued, “Let’s not hate each other by judging their truth. Let people find their own truth!”
Oops! I must have missed a step. What does she mean about “your truth and my truth”?
I don’t hate people just because I differ with them on their definition of “truth.” I can disagree with them, but still love them. Truth is not a variable that changes meaning, depending on the person talking about it. Truth is fact, reality. Nor would it be “loving” of me to let someone I am accountable for to not warn them if they are making decisions believing something that is not true.
My teenage daughter might hear at school that uninhibited sex, as you like it, with whomever you like, without any restraints, is lots of fun and without serious consequence. She might have heard that adults make make those stupid rules just to control you. But, no matter what the blogger claims, it is not loving or kind if I do not warn my child that promiscuous sex is fraught with danger. The truth is that promiscuous sex brings serious, debilitating disease and perhaps a life-changing pregnancy. That is undeniable truth.
My teenage son might be offered a drink of alcohol in secret, and he might find the experience exhilarating and enticing. But a kind and loving father would explain to his son the insidious lure of liquor, that it could light a fire in his body that would doom him to a drunkard’s death. That is undeniable truth, and a loving father would say so.
A dozen examples come to mind of how kindness and love will always seek the welfare of someone we love.
But we are vulnerable. We were all shaped by what we learned as a child and the influences of our culture. So we need to ask ourselves if what we’ve always thought is true really is true. Our eternal destiny depends on it. Thank God we have assurance from God about that. Jesus tells us we really can know the truth if we are willing to follow it.
Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know
whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. John 7:17 (nlt)
Willingness to do what God’s Word says is the guarantee that we will know the truth. Jesus adds to our understanding of truth in John 8:31,32 (nlt):
Jesus said to the people who believed in Him,
“You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
And you will know the truth,
And the truth will set you free.”
Thank God that we don’t have to wonder whether or not we have the truth. He has given us His Word. There is no truth in “your truth” or “my truth.” When the Bible tells us something is wrong and sinful, we will believe it and abstain from it. When the Bible says something is true and good, we can trust it implicitly and and make serious decisions by it.
Best of all, obeying God’s Word, knowing the truth, will make us kind and loving to others.