Truth Draws Resentment

          As I read my devotionals today in John 7 on this first day of the New Year 2011 I find the resentment to the spoken word of truth.  Jesus was put to death on a cross not for the things that He did, but for the words He spoke, words of truth.  In a fallen and corrupt world when we speak the truth of God it will be met with vicious attacks and slander from the world that knows only sinful behavior. 

7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.  John 7:7

          This is one area I have a problem with the seeker sensitive churches today.  If we are trying so hard not to offend a sinful world even in our churches then what message are we preaching?  Would this be the same message that Jesus would have preached?  I highly doubt it.  We must preach the very same thing that Jesus preached and that was the truth.  John 7:18 tell us

          18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

          So as we try and share the saving Word of God with the world let us not be surprised when the world comes back at us with a resentful heart.  We are here to help shed the light on a dark and deprived world.  Some with accept this and come into the light yet others will shrink away back to the comfort of the darkness that they know. 

          In this New Year I pray for those that have this job of sharing the truth to those wanting to hear it.  I pray that they do this in a God honoring manner as opposed to trying to be sensitive to man’s desires.  If we are not being attacked to some degree for preaching the truth then maybe we should examine whether or not we are correctly preaching the Word.  I also pray for those that are refusing to hear the truth and that God would soften their hearts so that they could be opened to the truth.  I pray that all who are in God and believe in the truth will find ways to share it with others.  Not just through speaking it, but also in living it as an example to others that do not or refuse to know it.