Some of you grew up in church and have since left. Maybe you still consider yourself a believer.
Maybe you just don’t know. Maybe you feel that, as one popular post has suggested, you believed in Jesus’ love all the way and you’re not sure what happed to the church. Some of you feel as though you learned better. Some of you haven’t thought it through very deeply, you just want to live your life. I want to speak to those of you who now see things differently than the way you were taught. So, you disagree with the church you grew up in. What now? You can’t both be right. Perhaps the church was wrong and you are right. That’s one option, but if you know me, you know I don’t think that’s it. Perhaps you’re both wrong. Have you considered that? Maybe, the church is right and you are wrong. That’s a difficult reality for any of us to consider, but intellectual honesty demands we ask the hard questions. I don’t know the church you grew up in, so let me just give you a few things to think about.
- Truth poorly articulated is still truth.
- Truth inconsistently applied is still truth.
- Things that make you angry aren’t always untrue.
- It is always possible to hear the truth but not understand it. That’s often been true for me.
- Perhaps you received a distortion of the truth that only served to embitter you towards the genuine truth.
For just a moment set all that aside and consider this. If Jesus is who He says He is (He is), then you must surrender to Him and believe on Him as the only way to be reconciled to the Father. If He is who says He is, then you are obligated to Him and will stand before Him as the judge of all the earth. If you trust Him He will save you, but don’t be fooled into thinking He’s content with lip service.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3:18
— used with permission
Gen1toRev22 