Scenario 1: Imagine with me a young man who worked hard on dunking… learning many spectacular dunks… hearing friends encourage him… and he enters a dunk competition… (to be continued…)
Scenario 2: Imagine with me a young lady that has worked hard on her shooting and steps into a game and drains 5 straight 3-pointers… hearing the amazement of the onlookers… (to be continued…)
S1: So the dunk competition comes around and the young man steps out onto the court with great confidence… after all his friends and family had admired his work ethic and even cheered him on… yet when it comes time for his first round of dunks, he can’t even successfully complete that most basic slam… THE PROBLEM?
S2: Or what about the young lady that had worked so hard… her supporters are maybe amazed at her skill set… but she looks up to the scoreboard to find her team is behind 15-0… THE PROBLEM?
THE PROBLEM?: it is not a problem of effort or of sincerity… it is a problem of truth… what I didn’t tell in the stories…
S1: the young man had been practicing on an 8’ goal instead of a 10’ goal… and those around him were more interested in his effort than in TRUTH…
S2: much like scene 1, the problem comes down to TRUTH… the fans were so interested in just being encouragers and supporters that they failed to point out she was shooting at the wrong goal
I write and preach often about the importance of being encouragers… and especially highlight being full of GRACE… YET, GRACE should never be delivered separate of TRUTH… they must go hand in hand! In fact, that is how our Savior is described… “full of GRACE and TRUTH.” (John 1:14) Likewise, TRUTH should always be spoken “in LOVE!” (Ephesians 4:15) GRACE, LOVE, & TRUTH should always be in harmony with one another…
The absurd scenarios I gave are a result of very regular conversations I find myself in… where folks tend to be either so GRACE / LOVE motivated that they fail to share TRUTH… or so TRUTH motivated that they fail to deliver it with GRACE / LOVE.
The TRUTH is that God was very hard on sin… willing to allow His Son to die for it… and that hard TRUTH was motivated by incredible LOVE! (Romans 5:8)
Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of TRUTH, the gospel of your salvation…
It seems nice to just be loving and grace-full, but the most loving and grace-full thing we can do is share the truth! After all, it is the TRUTH that sets men free! (John 8:32)
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