WHY LOVE AND TRUTH MUST WORK TOGETHER
MARK W PFEIFER
We live in a time of deep deception. The need for truth has never been greater.
But let’s make sure we administer the truth properly.
Here’s what I'm saying…
Most of us know that Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).” We can see from this verse that truth is not an end to itself but a means to an end. It’s a medicine we administer to help people become free.
It’s not a weapon we use to shut people down.
Truth is not given to create our personal gotcha moment.
It’s not a mic-drop or truth bomb.
It’s not our personal property.
Truth is not something we use to make ourselves look good while making other people look bad. It does not exist to make us right and other people wrong. Or to make us winners and other people losers.
Truth is to help others find freedom!
To that end, Paul reminds us that our battles are not with people.
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
We fight against demonic ideologies that keep people bound.
In II Corinthians 10:5 Paul describes our mission as, “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
People are not enemy!
People are the prize!
Truth is the antidote for demonic ideas that create deception. It can only be effectively administered by a person who loves people and genuinely wants the best for them.
This is why Paul said in Ephesians 4:15 that truth should be spoken in love. If we don’t love the person to whom we are speaking the truth, it can become weaponized to win arguments instead of winning souls to Christ!
Truth used to win arguments becomes a club that beats people down.
Truth isn’t Christian—it’s Pharisaical.
Many of the things the Pharisees said were true. Many of the laws they enforced that burdened people down were in scripture. But because they did not use the truth in the service of love, Jesus rebuked them for their manipulative control.
Jesus always used truth in service of humanity. He loved people. He wanted their lives to be better. He desired to see them walk in freedom. He knew that truth was a medicine, and if properly administered, it could bring freedom.
Truth dispensed without this kind of selfless love is as deadly as the deception itself.
BUT ON THE OTHER HAND…
Is there such a thing as having love without truth?
You bet!
If we love someone, we will speak the truth to them. True love doesn’t hold back or mask the truth in sugar coating when someone we love is in danger.
It speaks it plain and simple!
If we don’t speak the truth, our love is shallow and selfish.
Perhaps we refrain from speaking the truth because:
We don’t want to lose a friendship.
We don’t want people to dislike us.
We don’t want to suffer the pain of a broken relationship.
In that case, we value the joy we feel in that relationship more than the other person’s freedom. If we withhold or suppress the truth, we do them a severe disservice.
NOW FOR THE BALANCE…
True love is the most unselfish of human motives. It wants the best for people all the time. Knowing that the best life possible can only be defined in the context of what we call truth, love and truth must work together in mutual service.
For Christians, truth comes from the Bible and from the embodiment of Jesus Christ.
In John 17:17 Jesus said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
TRUTH without LOVE is a weapon that injures people.
LOVE without TRUTH is selfish idolatry.
But truth in the service of love and love in the service of truth represents Christ accurately to the world.
We need both working together in perfect balance!
We can do this!