with passion for truth, and that’s one reason why His words and life still have
the power to transform people 2,000 years later.
“I am convinced that if we, as individuals and as God’s people all together,
are to be instruments of real influence and transformation in our time, then
we will have to learn how to combine grace and truth in the same way that
Jesus did.”
Later in the article he says: “I hope that we, as individual Christians and
as the church, will be a good friend to all – the greedy, the self-righteous, the
sexually immoral, the prejudiced, the alcoholic, and the judgmental, to name
a few. Being a good friend means loving people as they are, speaking the truth
they need to hear, and then nurturing their growth so that they can become
the persons God desires them to be. Anything less and we will fail God and the
people we are called to help.
“We must be committed to being a good friend to people who need to
know the hope that is to be found in Jesus Christ. And that means combining
grace and truth the way that Jesus did – both-and, not either-or.”
We could bring more doctrine to bear on this, but it is a universal message
throughout the Word. It may be relatively easy to respond to the hungry, the
thirsty, the sojourner, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. But those in
need of love and support also include the sexually immoral, the alcoholic,
the judgmental – those we are less likely to embrace. Both truth and grace
tell us that God loves all of us unconditionally, equally and at all times, and
is constantly trying to raise us up to heaven, no matter how much we may
distance ourselves from Him at times.
This is “what love would do.”
(BMH)
‘cease asking’
Whatever good we do – which is truly good, through and through – comes
from the Lord, who is Love Itself, working through us. So when we ask what
love would do, we’re really asking what the Lord would have us do. And He
has told us:
When a man shuns evils as sins he daily learns what a good work is, and the
affection of doing good grows with him, and the affection of knowing truths for the
sake of good; for so far as he knows truths he can perform works more fully and
more wisely, and thus his works become more truly good.
Cease, therefore, from asking in thyself, “What are the good works that I must do,
or what good must I do to receive eternal life?” Only cease from evils as sins and
look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and lead you.” (Apocalypse Explained
979:2)
(WEO)
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