This article first appeared on GodTV devotional blog | by Daphne Delay
It seems we have created our own idea of who the Son of God is and how He carried Himself on the earth. Or maybe we just missed the part where He often called people out for their behavior and corrected them publicly. Don’t get me wrong, I fell in love with the Savior who was sent by God to rescue me from my sins. When I felt rejected and inferior, He showed me great love and compassion. But the more I learned about His righteousness, I learned one more thing too: “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions” (Hebrews 1:9).
Jesus hated lawlessness and said so whether the crowds liked it or not. As one evangelist said, “We forget Jesus was a fiery revolutionary!” He Himself said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).
The scriptures are clear: “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient…” (2 Timothy 2:24). In other words, it’s possible to be strong without getting into a war of words. But we shouldn’t misconstrue this to mean we are to only be gentle. The passage goes on to say: “in humility correcting those who are in opposition if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth” (verse 25).
The Bible says Jesus was full of grace and truth. So consider this:
- Truth without grace is mean.
- Grace without truth is meaningless.
Jesus had both. And so should we. We need to learn from His example and speak the truth in love. We can be right but if we’re mean, then we haven’t reflected Christ correctly. We can be quiet (how some want grace and gentleness to look) but if we know the truth and say nothing, then we’ve helped no one.
Look again at Paul’s instruction to Timothy. There’s one more part of this lesson we need to learn: “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Paul said when we tell people the truth, mixed with grace, it may help them escape the snare of the devil, whose only goal is to get people caught in his web of strife. He knows strife leads to hate, and hate leads to lawlessness, and lawlessness is despised by Jesus.
So the balance is found in speaking up without getting into a fight.
Speak the truth? YES, definitely.
Fight with those who oppose truth? No, definitely not. As the Word says, “If anyone still disagrees—well, we will leave him in his ignorance” (1 Corinthians 14:38). But to be clear, it’s better to stand for righteousness than to fall with the lawless.
