Living What We Believe

One of the worst scourges in the church today is that of hypocrisy. It probably has turned more people away from the faith than anything else.

In addition, some people are just waiting for Christians to slip up so they can conveniently hang their doubts on what we did or did not do to meet their standards of what a Christian ought to be.

Yet some Christians don’t even think about this. They aren’t even aware that someone might be watching their lives. And sadly, many are willfully ignorant of what the Bible teaches.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, “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 NLT).

Perhaps the best translation of the phrase “speak the truth in love” would be “hold the truth in love.” It is the idea of speaking the truth, discussing it, and teaching it. But it is also more than that. It is living it.

Paul was saying, “You need to grow up. You need to find balance in your life as a believer. This means that you know the truth. But you also live the truth.”

It also means that we say what is true, even if someone doesn’t necessarily appreciate it. The streams of love must always flow into the bank of truth. It’s great to be loving, but there must be truth as well.

So, if a viewpoint contradicts what the Scripture teaches, we must warn people so they don’t fall prey to it. We must compassionately love them but also tell them the truth.

The Bible declares, “Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6 NLT). True love works closely with the truth.