Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Ephesians 4:15
How do we speak to the world? Are we starting with love or judgment? Sometimes we need to tell people the truth according to God. How can we do that with love in our hearts and actions? This is our challenge today as we think about going to talk to people about God who are rich or powerful or just plain ole unlikeable. God asks us to speak truth to power in a world filled with competing world views and ideas about what right looks like.
The term speaking truth to power seems to come from the civil rights movement where the poor and minorities were encouraged to tell the truth about their living conditions and societal norms that kept them in a disadvantaged position. People faced negative consequences for speaking out. But in God’s Scripture we are told to speak the truth in love. We are told to remove our own sins before working on others. We are told to go to the whole world and share the good news of the gospel, not just with people who agree with us. Speaking truth to power is a real challenge in our world for most Christians.
One example we may agree on is that abortion is evil because it destroys innocent human life. Pro-choice groups do not want to hear that truth and become incensed when faced with that message. How can we share the gospel with people who cannot understand or live with the idea that all human life is sacred, and that God wants everyone to live? There are no easy answers, but I think it starts with the idea that the sin is evil and not the person. We must separate people who sin (like us) from the sin itself. God sent Jesus to save the world, not judge it (John 3:17). One of the key tenets of the Great Commission is teaching. We must go into the world with the idea of helping people understand who God is and how He can change lives for the better.
In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan is sent to King David to tell him God is displeased with him. That is not a pleasant truth to tell a king. Nathan gets this message across using a story with a message. David understands immediately what he has done wrong based on the story. We can use the same techniques to reach people today. God was displeased with David, but did not kill him or remove him from the throne. There are consequences for sin, but God wants all of us to repent and become the people He envisions us to be.
Let us decide today to speak truth to power and become God’s people who can both speak the truth and love the person we are there to help at the same time.
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