Afraid of the Truth?

What are we afraid of? Why are we scared to death of speaking the Truth?

I know why I am. I want people to like me. That’s not such a strange, out-of-the-question desire, is it? I want people to like me. I want people to be happy with me. I want to live and work and play in such a way that people aren’t mad at me or disappointed with me.

But God has slapped me upside the head. Not literally. I wouldn’t be able to survive that. But God has gotten my attention, through books, through ministry, through being a pastor of three different congregations. Don’t intentionally make people mad, He says to me. But also don’t shy away from speaking the Truth, He’s also telling me.

And you, too.

God’s Word – the Truth – is very clear in many places. Like John 14:6 “"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is no salvation, no heaven, no paradise, unless we believe in Jesus Christ. That’s the Truth.

And we’re afraid to tell it because this truth will offend people. There’s no way around that. Look at what happened to Jesus when He said it! They nailed Him to a cross. So we can expect pretty much the same.

But tell it we must. Why? Because even though many people will not want to hear the Truth, they desperately need to! We all need to hear the Truth. We all need to hear that Jesus Christ came to this earth from heaven. That God sent Him because He loves us so much He didn’t want us to suffer an eternity separated from Him. The Truth is that Jesus Christ took all that separates us from God – our sin – on Himself and paid the price for that sin. And Jesus’ death and resurrection are the only means of salvation for all of us. All we need is faith in Christ. There is no other way.

Yet “other ways” are exactly what people look for. Why, I don’t know. It’s so simple. Faith in Christ means salvation. Yet two thirds of the people of this world struggle to find other ways to save themselves.

And so many Christians – the other third of the planet – let them struggle by telling them it’s ok to believe in some other way of salvation. So many of us are afraid of offending them, thinking that it wouldn’t be very loving if we ticked them off by telling them that there is only one way to heaven.

Yet, that is the Truth. It is simple and yet very hard. What needs to happen is that we Christians need the courage and strength of Joshua. To stand up for what God has done for us and not “go along with the crowd.” It won’t be popular but Christianity isn’t a popularity contest.

It is a life-and-death struggle against evil. It can be won, but only by believing and telling the Truth.

©2008 True Men Ministries.