Thomas Sowell, the brilliant economist and thinker, said, “If you want to help others, tell them the truth. If you want to help yourself, tell them what they want to hear.” This has great relevance in our walk as Christ-followers. If we want to help others, we will tell them the truth of Jesus. When someone slanders the Bible, we won’t sit idly by. We will stand and speak the truth.
Of course, this will put a target on our backs in today’s culture. So, if we’re afraid of that and we just want to get along, we’ll stay silent. We might even agree with the crowd because we will be more concerned with helping ourselves rather than others. May this never be true of us.
If we do not tell others the truth about Jesus, who will? We can’t risk leaving the job to someone else. God puts people in our paths, and it is our responsibility to not only show the love of Christ, but to tell them the truth. No one knows who to trust or what to believe anymore. Information is readily available, more than we could ever consume, but how do we know who or what to trust? Amid this chaos, Jesus alone stands as the unchanging and all-encompassing source of truth.
It has become popular in recent years for people to say ridiculous things like, “Well, that’s my truth.” There is no individual truth. There are individual preferences and opinions, but there is only one standard of truth, and that is Jesus. Some also say, “There is no truth.” When someone says that I always wonder and ask, “Is that true?” We find truth only in Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), and without Christ, there is no truth and no moral standard.
To put it plainly, you can’t live without Jesus. We will all die, of course, but for those who put their trust in Jesus, life will go on. That life will far exceed our wildest dreams and imaginations. But if we reject the truth of Jesus, we will face an eternity buried in the despair of that choice. I can’t say for certain what Hell will be. Some say the description of eternal fire is literal, some say it is figurative. What I know is that if it is literal, you don’t want to go there. If it is figurative, whatever it represents is certainly no place you want to spend an hour, much less eternity. That is the reality for everyone who rejects Christ.
I would not wish Hell on my worst enemy and doubt you would either. If we don’t tell the truth to those we know are dying and heading for that eventuality, some of that falls on us. We must speak truth into lies and shine light into darkness. If you are more concerned with fitting in, being well-liked, and not causing any waves, the sad fact is I doubt you are a follower of Christ. That puts you in the same peril as those to whom you refuse to tell the truth.
We are called. We are chosen. Now we have a job to do. Jesus died and rose again for our sakes, for our salvation. He is the only Son of God, the perfect Creator of all things throughout the Universe. He loves you and desires you to come to Him, rest in Him, and serve Him out of gratitude and love. Tell the truth. Don’t shy away to protect your reputation. Speak the truth and give life to those dying around you. Forget about your reputation and comfort. There is far too much at stake.