True Love Speaks :
Why We Can ' t Stay Silent in a Culture of Confusion By Lisa Bevere
Walk into most churches nowadays and you will likely hear a message of love , hope , encouragement , and identity . And all that is good and well . After decades of overly harsh messages , the pendulum has naturally swung to the other side — but have we swung it too far ? Are we so set on being seekerfriendly that we neglect what it means to be a true friend to those walking through our doors ?
The mistake we made in previous decades was to tell the truth in ways that weren ’ t always loving . The answer to this is not to shrink back from speaking truth . It is to learn to speak the truth in love .
Jesus was certainly a friend of sinners — and we should be too — but it ’ s time we reassess what being a friend actually looks like . I don ’ t know about you , but I , for one , expect my friends to tell me the truth . I don ’ t want them to bash me over the head with it , but I do want them to tell me the things I need to hear in a loving way .
We ’ ve all been given truth without love at times . It doesn ’ t feel good . Truth without love is mean — but love without truth is meaningless . We need both . And when we look at Jesus , we see these two qualities on full display . He is the God who so loved the world , the One who is Himself the very nature of love , yet He is also the truth ( John 14:6 ).
Consider the example of the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8 .
She is exposed in her sin and is surrounded by her self-righteous accusers who want to stone her . Most of us know the story . Jesus reaches down and writes something mysterious in the sand . Then he stands up and says to those condemning her , “ Let any one of you who is without sin be the
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