Speaking Truth is an Act of Love

When we tell others the truth about what God’s Word says about sin, it is sometimes misunderstood as hateful speech. Saying, for example, that homosexuality is sinful – many times people see that as us hating gays. However, the opposite is true. If you see someone headed for disaster, you tell them so. That’s love. Hate would be sitting back and letting them be destroyed.

Conviction

Truth often offends. It may hurt your feelings. But if you feel convicted when you hear truth spoken, something else very important is actually happening. Conviction is a function of the Holy Spirit. Allow me to explain…

Every human being who is alive has the breath of God within them. Follow me here. God breathed into Adam and he became alive. Before that, there was no spirit inside Adam. He was an empty shell made in the likeness of his Creator. It was God’s breath that gave Adam his own spirit. The words spirit and breath are synonymous. If something is inspired, that literally means it is “God-breathed.” So, again, every live human being has God’s breath inside them. That is the living spirit that dwells within your body.

With this in mind, let’s go back to the uncomfortable feeling you have when truth about a sin you’re guilty of is spoken to you. That uncomfortable feeling is called conviction. But if I spoke that truth to you, it doesn’t follow that I am the one convicting you. I don’t actually have that power. It is the Holy Spirit bearing witness to that truth which causes an uneasiness within YOUR spirit.

Conviction itself is a spiritual occurrence. It’s evidence of a battle between your spirit and your flesh. Your spirit wants to please God, while your flesh just wants to please itself. It is the Holy Spirit which convicts. And if you feel that prodding in your spirit, you’d be wise to pay attention to it rather than lash out at the person who spoke truth to you.

All for Love

Truth may make you uncomfortable. But it is an act of love to speak truth to someone who might otherwise perish because of their sin. We speak the truth of God’s Word because we don’t want people to die in their sin. This is a reflection of how God feels about us. He doesn’t want anyone to perish in their sin, so He made a way for us to be redeemed and cleansed from our sin. He sent Jesus to pay the price for our sin on the cross. The Bible says, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That was the ultimate act of love.

The truth of this good news is that we need only choose to accept the free gift of salvation. We do this by accepting Jesus as Savior, meaning that we believe He died in our place, paying the price of death that we owed for our sin, and then rising from the dead to further offer us eternal life with Him. Another part of this truth is that God is Holy and demands holiness of us. We couldn’t do that on our own, which is why we need Jesus. Truth and love, wrapped up in one complete package – and we just have to be receptive to it.

But if we reject His truth, we also reject His love and His free gift of salvation. In this way, we remain mired within our sin, separated from God. Die in this state, and we’re left to suffer an eternity apart from Him – and that’s hell. So it comes back to sharing the truth with the lost, hoping and praying that they will accept Jesus and be saved. Wanting to save people from hell…that’s not hate. It’s love.

Love people enough to tell them the truth. Otherwise, you could be held accountable for souls lost to which you failed to witness. You can prevent that loss with the Gospel message. They can know the truth, and that truth can set them free from the bonds of sin. So don’t be afraid to speak truth, speak life, speak love – speak Jesus at every opportunity, and save the lost. After all, this is our very calling as children of God.