Loving People, Loving Truth

In a culture that says you can believe anything and it's true, how can you voice God's truth? 1 John 4 is a remarkable chapter in the Bible for times like ours. The Apostle John tells us to "test the spirits and "know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." (verses 1 and 6) So on the one hand we are to seek and love truth. But some people frown upon judging or critiquing other's beliefs. This is where the rest of chapter four helps. The Apostle John goes on to say that we are to "love one another." When we share truth it has to be done in a spirit of love. Too often we use truth as a hammer, smashing everything and everyone in sight. This is what Westboro Baptist Church does to the extreme. They have a website called, "God Hates Fags." They send out teams to protest at military funerals saying the servicemen died because our country accepts homosexuality. Today they're at the Funeral of Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Basham - at 9:15 a.m., at Proko Funeral Home, 511 60th Street, Kenosha, Wisconsin. This is not loving and won't change any one's belief system. On the other hand we handle the truth with love. The Apostle Paul would put it something like this (based on 1 Corinthians 13:1) "If I speak the truth, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or clanging cymbal." So may you actively seek the truth and share it with His love. These are the days my friend.
Jim "Train"