Truth In Love

Have you ever experienced someone try to leverage love or friendship to manipulate you? From something small like an old friend trying to use your friendship to get you to buy something, to something much riskier and bolder like a trusted friend trying to get you to compromise your beliefs.

On some level, we have all experienced this. How do I know? Well, we are all humans after all. It’s pretty common for us to try and manipulate others. The more we seek control, the more we are willing to utilize the various tactics to get people to do what we want. From the time we were little kids trying to get our siblings to give us the toy they are playing with, we learn how to leverage our relationships with others.

Though effective at times, they are not true expressions of love. The hope is that we begin to learn what is healthy and what is not healthy ways to demonstrate friendship and love.

There is nothing worse than realizing that someone is trying to control you and manipulate you. It’s in that moment that you begin to question their friendship or love for you. Was the whole conversation really about getting me to buy something, or is there truth to wanting to reconnect? Does he really love me or did he just want to use my body? Do they truly want to hang out with me or just want to play xbox on my parent’s 80’ TV?

I once received a phone call from a person who used to attend my church years ago and whose son was in youth group. I missed the call but there was a wonderful message left on my voicemail. Something like, “Hi pastor Brad! This is….and I just wanted you to know that God placed you on my heart recently and I wanted to pray for you and just let you know that I miss you. I was hoping we could reconnect soon. Have a wonderful day.”

I honestly was so excited to receive the call and called this person back as soon as I could. Only to find out that they had a business venture they wanted me to sign up for. Not saying this person doesn’t really love me, but I felt the message was deceitful. I would have preferred a message like this: “Hi Brad, I have a business proposition for you with this company…Call me back if you are interested.” I may not have called back, but at least it was a trustworthy statement.

At the core of who we are, we want to know if someone is being truthful in our relationships with us. And when they are not, we either enter denial and try to preserve the relationship, or we become cynical and skeptical about others.

The apostle John, out of deep love for the believers, wrote to them warning them that there are “truth claims” out there that are seeking to manipulate and pull them away from the truth. Deceptive lines that sound good, but are misleading them.

Just like it is important in our human relationships for truth in love, it is of utmost importance that we know that God’s love is always true, but there is an enemy who wants to convince people that they are “good with God” but in reality, are believing lies.

1 John 4 tells us that God has given the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Jesus Christ, and He (the Holy Spirit) will guide them into all truth. John warns that there are false prophets and teachers saying things that sound good but are not biblical. Therefore, we need to test the things that we hear against the Word of God and allow the Spirit of God to bring discernment.

Here is a simple test. Which of these phrases are consistent with the Word of God?

1.     We are all God’s children.

2.     God just wants us to be happy.

3.     Christians should judge others.

4.     God helps those who help themselves.

5.     God will never give you more than you can handle.

6.     When you die, God gains another angel.

That’s enough for now. Circle the ones you think are biblical. At the bottom of the blog will be the answer key.

How did you do?

Some of those are widely held to and yet have some major consequences. The ultimate danger is one of these teachings leads us away from Jesus Christ and our need for Him. The first and most important evidence that something is truthful is an acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is who He says He is and has done what He said He would do.

God wants us to be investigators of the truth. To weigh everything according to His Word. God is a God who delights in showing His children the truth, so seek it out. The more you are in the Word of God and abide with God the more you will be led by the Holy Spirit.

It is in cultivating this love for God that you will sincerely know you are loved in truth. God loves you and has demonstrated His love for you in the person of Jesus Christ. He has given you the Holy Spirit so that you are not on your own to test the spirits.

The Holy Spirit will lead you into discerning the truth and will give you other faithful believers who will seek the truth with you. Let us continually look to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.

Be watchful, for there are even some who claim to be pastors and Christians who are teaching lies. Be like the Berean Christians who searched the Scriptures daily to see if what is said is consistent with the Truth.

Answer Key: Consistent with God’s Word – 3. Inconsistent with God’s Word – 1, 2, 4, 5, 6.