THE STORY OF JESUS: Job 5-7
“How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?” (Job 6:25)
This scenario reminds me of how many approach evangelism or pastoral care.
When someone is grieving or struggling in sin, do we preach truth at them?
We claim that the truth sets people free, but is truth what they need?
Can we convince the mind of what the heart is not able to receive?
Can a person change their thinking, unless God changes their hearts?
And does God change our hearts with truth, or with love, grace and mercy?
Jesus could have just preached ‘truth’ to the sinners He dealt with.
Instead, He graced them, called them, welcomed them (like Zacchaeus).
And this is what softened their hearts, and opened their minds.
Too often we claim that we’re ‘speaking the truth in love’…
When we’re really ‘loving to speak the truth!’, not loving the person.
Undeserved love, not unreserved truth, is what helps people change.
This is not about approving sin or denying truth, but realizing…
That grace and mercy open the heart for truth and repentance.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for reminding me that it is not my words that change people, but Your Spirit through grace and mercy. May I learn from Eliphaz how NOT to speak the truth.