[photopress:Hands_holding_Bible_1.jpg,thumb,right]Loving the truth is definitely not an optional extra for any Christian. Loving the truth is not less important, nor less ‘spiritual’ than loving the gospel, living a holy life, or even loving our Saviour. Indeed, it is impossible to separate loving the truth from those things. We cannot do them unless we love the truth.

Yet there are many Christians who show by their lives that they do not really love the truth at all. They may believe the truth, and possibly even admire the truth. They may defend the truth, and perhaps even preach the truth. But they do not love the truth. They are not passionate about the truth. Some Christians have a worldly attitude which shows itself in immorality. Some have a worldly attitude which shows itself in materialism. And some Christians have a worldly attitude which shows itself in that they do not really love the truth. Perhaps you are one of them. I fear that sometimes I am one too.

The Bible does tell us that we must all have the same attitude, but it doesn’t tell us that we should all act in the same ways. God has designed every one of us differently, and given each of us different gifts. For example, every one of us should love the gospel. As a result, some will settle in a remote country, risking their lives to take the gospel where it has never been. Others will become full-time pastors and teachers. Some will become itinerant evangelists. Others will forsake additional household income, and dedicate their lives to teaching the things of Christ to their children and others in the neighbourhood. Some will serve Christ sacrificially and consistently in their own churches in their ‘free-time’, almost without anyone noticing they have given their lives for the sake of the gospel. But all are passionate about the gospel.

So we must not think that everyone who loves the truth will act in the same way. Because they love the truth, some will complete doctorates in theology. Some will become preachers. Some will write books. But most won’t, and most shouldn’t. Yet there are at least four things that will characterize every Christian who loves the truth: you will stand for the truth, you will study the truth, you will safeguard the truth and you will share the truth.

You will stand for the truth, because anything you are passionate about will show itself in the way that you live. So everything about your life will show that you love the truth. For example, if you love the truth you will be truthful. It is hard to think of a greater hypocrisy that a man who says he loves the truth yet tells his customer that the parcel that is still on his desk must have been mislaid by the Royal Mail.

You will study the truth because you always have an increasing desire for those things that you are passionate about. That means primarily that you will be a student of God’s Word. You will read books that explain the Bible, you will listen regularly to sermons that clearly expound and apply the Bible, but most of all you will study the Bible. As the Psalmist says, ‘Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.’ (Psalm 119:97). Many Christians do not do this. They are content to read the Bible, sometimes content even merely to read about the Bible, but they never study it, they never meditate on it.

If you rarely or never study the Bible, then start now! If you don’t know how to start, then find a friend and together work through a book like Grasping God’s Word by Duvall and Hays, or Search the Scriptures by Alan Stibbs. Or perhaps you could ask your pastor to start a study group or adult Sunday School. You might even contact a good theological college and enquire about foundational correspondence courses for laymen. But in a variety of ways, the Christian who loves the truth will never merely be content to read the Bible, he will want to study it!

You will safeguard the truth because it is too precious to risk losing. You will therefore particularly pray for and support seminaries and theological colleges. You will praise God for those who defend the truth in the media and in the academy. Your church will occasionally invite young men to preach – not because they are already the best preachers in the district, but because they must hone their gifts somewhere and you want to support the next generation of Bible-teachers. No-one exemplified this desire to safeguard the truth for future generations better than the apostle Paul. He told Timothy, ‘what you have heard from me… entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also’. Paul’s concern is not just that the truth would be safeguarded in his own generation, but he was concerned to see it grow in Timothy, so that Timothy would pass it on to faithful men, so that they would pass it on to yet others! Such is the far-reaching vision of those who love and want to safeguard the truth.

Finally, you will share the truth because it is too exciting and too important to keep to yourself. You will want to tell your Christian friends about the things you have discovered in the Bible, and so be an encouragement to them. But equally, you will regularly share the fundamentals of the gospel with those who are not yet saved. You will not be content with your friends merely knowing that you attend church, and live differently from them. You will want them to know the truth about the gospel. And because you are passionate about the truth, and passionate about your neighbour, then you will tell them the gospel – because if you don’t then probably no-one else will, and they will likely perish. Men and women and boys and girls can afford to go through their whole lives never knowing that two plus two equals four, but they cannot afford to live and die without ever hearing the truth about Jesus Christ.

Do you love the truth as you ought? If so, then thank God for His grace and pray that He would help you to continue. If not, pray for forgiveness, keep asking God to develop this passion in you, and remember the means by which He will do it – it will be a work of the Spirit of truth, drawing you nearer to Jesus and deeper into God’s Word.

Published in the July 2007 edition of The Evangelical Magazine.

 

 Standard Podcast [6:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 3% [?]