2 John
2 John v.10&11 Timeless Truth = False teaching must not be tolerated nor encouraged. Truth must be upheld!
Wow, yeah, this one is a big issue for me. I find myself growing more and more frustrated with the church today because of the lack of truth being upheld. Often times I realize that the body of Christ today is hearing things that aren’t necessarily false… just not the full story of truth. Yeah, this is honestly hard to put and I dare not go on a rant about the body of Christ, they are God’s beloved and he is doing his will in their lives. What I fear is that I would fail to be a voice for truth because I would grow apathetic. This apathy is what would destroy me and destroy the body of believers… a lack of caring for what God wants for us. I see this in my own life in that I desire the comforts of the world rather than being willing to stand up for the truth. Often times I have been in churches were an ordinary message is preached that has no real punch or even is not truly biblical. I stand in the back and I watch and find myself doing nothing about it… praying and hoping that someone will stand up for truth or that somehow someway God will speak to the people in the congregation about the truth to them. This is where it gets hard for me, realizing that I have a voice for truth and the heart to not see the lies of complacency and apathy continue in the body of believers. Yeah, this feels like a rant because I do not really know how to say this. I guess what it all boils down to is that I am tired of seeing people live in less than the freedom that Jesus has given them. It breaks my heart to see my brothers and sisters in Christ living this comfortable American dream life… which honestly… is bondage. This is why I am not living that life, because I see Jesus for who he is and realize that life is found solely in him. This isn’t to be a monk, it is to simply place value in the things that Jesus puts value in. He says to love people, not to sit around fat, dumb, and happy. So I will not, and I will not let those that I say I love do the same. How can I love people by watching them live according to what their culture says makes them happy. I would be led to fear that I would be preaching to people who don’t care to hear my words. What I more greatly fear is that those I love would never know that there is far more for them than what they are willing to settle for.
So… I have found myself being a voice of truth and daring to not let people settle for less than what Jesus has for them. This might make me a jerk or opinionated hard-ass or whatever… I really don’t care what people think… I want to love them more than to care about what they think. The hard part of this is to love in the midst of it… to not be the resounding gong, but rather to be a voice of the gospel. The gospel is both beautiful and offensive and it must be both. It is beautiful in that it is genuine life for humanity. It is offensive in that it speaks to humanity that everything else we find value in is actually worthless and will not last. This is a harsh reality… but it is so beautiful. Jesus offers life… and I simply want nothing more and nothing less than for my friends to receive life in all its fullness. I will love them enough to speak harsh truth that they would live in the freedom that Jesus freely offers them. He has saved us from ourselves, I will not let any other message of comfort or joy be spoken without resistance.
(p.s. this month is called "Janu-hairy" because all the guys grow out funky facial hair and then end the month with a mustache competition... this is mine right now..."
