In love with firm truth, that is how we are to speak to everyone that we meet when we are in their presence, in love but with firm truth. You are obligated to do so, for if you are truly a born-again believer you are not to spend any of the time that you have been blessed with in the pursuit of the frivolous things of the world.
The average Christian today seems to have little time for God, the supposed requirements of their lives leave little time for the most Holy, when the days deeds are done, they seek for rest until the sun rises and calls them again, but they do not seek for this rest in Him. Little time is spent studying the Word of God, while much is devoted to the immediate, the temporal, they expect the blessings of God without service to Him. When they are in the company of the lost, the wicked that the wrath of God abides upon, (John 3:36) they try to fit in, the conversations are about the menial tasks of life, the supposed important items that surround them, but the one who claims Jesus Christ as Lord claims Him not in their presence.
They call it fear, an inability to know what to say, not feeling led at the moment. But it is shame, they are ashamed of the Lord, more fearful of the rebukes of the lost than of the accounting they will have to give on that day. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14) But these will return to their houses, return to their churches, praying that the Lord will give them opportunities to witness for Him, but only in love, never in firm truth. Do they not understand they are standing in the company of those who will suffer eternal separation from God, do they not realize that they are in the presence of those who if they do not come to Christ will scream in pain and suffering for all eternity. Where is this supposed love they say they have for them, where is this love they say they have for the Savior, left in the church pew to be picked up again next Sunday morning, left in their heart, hidden from the world and perceived only by them? “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm 119:11) “And I am not going to let anyone else hear it or see it either.”
These cannot speak the truth for they do not know what truth is, love is an action, and that action remains unseen by the world, the lost know them as one of their own, the only ones who call them brothers and sisters in Christ are those who have the same closed lips as they themselves do. They believe themselves to be children of the Most High because they attend services once a week, because they put a small amount in the plate as it passes by, because they repeated the words correctly and then got baptized. Try to have a conversation with them for more than five minutes about their spiritual walk, ask them to tell you how God has been using them this week, even those two small questions will bring their ire upon you, for they cannot answer them, talk about the weather or current events and they will stand and speak with you for hours, bring up the subject of their fellowship with Christ and they will ask their leave of you, for pressing matters are upon them.
Which one are you my friend, does the world still entice you enough that when you are in the company of others you fear to speak His name, fear to question those who are around you with matters of the eternal. Here is one of the marks of a born-again believer, he tries. He speaks love with firm truth, he does not just throw a “Praise God” out there occasionally. He speaks the Word boldly both in and out of season, (2 Tim. 4:2) he is able to discern when it is time to leave the presence of the company he is in, for he will “ Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matt. 7:6) He loves them enough to tell them that Jesus is willing and ready to forgive them of their sins, and to tell them of the consequences that await them if they do not.
To speak the truths of the Word of God with firm truth will not make you any friends, there is always the possibility that it will make you a new brother or sister, but one thing is true, if you do not speak to them you will know neither one. The world will not be your friend unless you are one of them. “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.” (Luke 6:32) And you will definitely not be the friend of Jesus if you do not obey His commandments. (John 15:14) These are sort of out there in “no-mans-land,” the world in a way calls them friend, except for those occasions, which are rare but tolerable, that they speak a few of those “Religious words.” Those who follow Christ in the fulness of servitude cannot judge their salvation, but at best can see them only as continuously weaker brothers, and so the only form of solace they have is to perpetually surround themselves with like-minded individuals, those who say they know Christ but rarely if ever take Him with them into the world when they leave the church on Sunday morning.
“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” (Matt. 15:8) It is a sad thing to meet these individuals, they claim Christ as Lord, but they will not speak of Him, they say they are Christians, but they will show no works that have been done in the Spirit through them, (James 2:18) they are pious in the assembly, silent in public, and hypocritical in the eyes of the Lord. Those who profess Christ only with their lips are both an abomination and ones to be pitied, for a pretense they make a show, (Matt. 23:14) in their own eyes and in the eyes of a lost world are the only places they bear the name Christian. They are more detestable than the lost, for they are seen by the world as what a Christian is to be, just like them with a few religious words thrown in, with an hour or so kicked in on Sunday morning just for good measure. The words of the Scriptures are nothing more than that, just words, words to make them feel better about themselves, not words to be shared in love and firm truth to a lost world.
Enough of this, I can bear the subject of this letter no longer. Look at yourself, look at your soul, prove to yourself by your past actions and deeds whether or not you have truly been born-again, or if you have been deceiving yourself all these years. If you will not judge yourself, (1 Cor. 11:31) you will be judged later, if others cannot see Jesus Christ in you, then He is not in you.
“I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.” (2 Cor. 8:8)
