Truth is now called ‘Hate Speech’. What's up with that? “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes revolutionary.” George Orwell
The truth is; the truth according to Jesus is always accompanied by love speech, not hate speech. Every word we speak must first pass the love test. Our truth telling must be seasoned with grace. In my experience it is the true and authentic love of God that keeps me grounded and tethered to truth. Truth is tested, confirmed and established by love! Love motivated truth speech is like spiritual fertilizer, always resulting in growth. So, if you are inclined to tell the truth in love at any and all costs expect to be treated like a revolutionary. Persecution will likely follow!
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)
16-17 This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s truth/reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. (1 John 3:16-20)
When we practice true love we are living in truth more than at any other moment of our lives!
“You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Father, set us apart, uniquely in the truest truth? Anything you say about everything is verified as ‘truth’. His truth is always authenticated by His love! Therefore, yours and my journeys are beautiful weavings of love and truth working together! Be brave and compassionate ‘truth tellers.
God never compromised his original thought. “The word became flesh and took up residence (tabernacles) in us, and we gazed with wonder and amazement upon the mystery of our inclusion in him. We saw his glory (doxa, the display of his opinion); the glory as of the original, authentic begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Mirror Translation)
Jesus declares the climax of his mission where in his death and resurrection every possible definition of separation will be/is cancelled: “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me.” (John 14:20, RSV) “The mandate of Jesus was to reveal and redeem the image and likeness of God in human form.”
No technology yet to be invented in the far off future could possibly match the enormity of human life. Consider the capacity and wonder of a single DNA strand with its three billion individual characters’ mirror repeated seventy-five trillion times in the cells of one person. Just to count the individual characters in a single DNA strand at one character per second would take 96 years! This truth alone dwarfs every other theory of man’s existence. The truth in love says we are created and formed before the foundation of the earth.
Jesus is the crescendo of God’s conversation (truth telling) with humankind; he gives context and content to the authentic thought of God. Everything God had in mind for man is voiced in him. His name declares his mission. As Savior of the world he truly redeemed the image and likeness of the invisible God and made him apparent again in human form.
Baptized in loving truth, Ron Ross
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