As you read about Paul’s missionary journeys in the book of Acts, you find a pattern. Each time he entered a city, he first went to the synagogue. He would be cast out of the synagogue and would begin to teach in the streets or in houses nearby. Rejection never deterred him, though he faced it everywhere he went. He had been stoned, left for dead, beaten unrelentingly until blood poured from him flesh, thrown into prison, spit on, and yet, he marched on spreading the gospel truth. His journeys long, fatigue nor defeat a word he considered as he spread the news. What was it that made him so bold and passionate about the truth he marched back into a city after being stoned and left for dead? It was his love for God. A love so great desired God’s Glory be seen and honored by all.
Are you or I that passionate about the truth? Jesus, the Son of God, the very essence of God came, lived a perfect life, beaten, died on a cross to pay the penalty of our sins, rose from the grave victorious, and is seated on the right hand of God the Father. Look around you. Is not Christ’s name at stake while the secularists want to destroy all who proclaim Him as Lord and Savior? So, are you passionate about the truth? Jesus is the only truth that really matters. He is the only hope for this world. As we sat idly by while the minority removed God from the schools, while moving in secular humanist atheistic ideologies, we have watched as anger, division, and violence rise. Without God, where is hope? No wonder people search endlessly for self, where self cannot be found.
Paul Passionate about the Truth
Paul came to Athens and his spirit was grieved when he saw the many idols. People believing in so many seemingly religious things but missing out on the only truth that mattered. He was grieved because they did not see nor honor the one true God, though they were searching in vain to find their way. Knowing he risked being imprisoned or even killed, Paul, passionate about the truth told them as recorded in Acts 17 (NKJV):
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the [i]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one [j]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Are You Passionate About the Truth?
We Christians cower as the media and politicians call us immoral bigots because we stand for moral truth. Yes, the Bible teaches homosexuality is a sin. The same as it teaches fornication and adultery are sins. Sins for which Christ died. Abortion is the killing of a baby as we worship at the altar of “my body is mine” ideology. Idolatry surrounds us in so many forms. Why are we so afraid to speak the truth in love? Jesus Christ is the hope, the joy, and the greatest treasure that I have. To not share that truth with everyone I meet is an act of hate; because, I am not sharing with them the only true source of abounding joy and eternal life.
Furthermore, my love for Him demands I speak of Him continuously. That is what love does, it can’t help but speak of the one it loves. Oh, how I wish you know my love! Do you know Him?
Therefore, the more I am told to shut up and sit down, the more I want to stand up and shout the name of Jesus to the world. He is the light of the world. My love for Him demands I am passionate about the truth; because He loves the world so much that He came and died to save all who would come to Him. Sin separates us from His love. So it is that I must hate the sin which separates you from knowing Him. At the same time I love the person. It was Grace Alone that found me and saved me by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. I only want that for you.
[bctt tweet=”Just as Paul was passionate about the truth: Jesus Christ is the only way, the truth and the life. So must we be passionate if we truly love” username=”effiedarlene”]
[bctt tweet=”the more I am told to shut up and sit down, the more I want to stand up and shout the name of Jesus to the world. ” username=”effiedarlene”]
[bctt tweet=”Fellow Americans, I believe that in many ways you are religious; but do you know the one true God? Do you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?” username=”effiedarlene”]
How to Gain Spiritual Discernment?
As we grow in our faith, the Spirit grows within us. We must keep our eyes focused on the truth of scripture, with prayer and bible study. Leaning into, abiding in Jesus Christ; we ask for wisdom and discernment in all that we do or say. James 1:5 tells us, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. We are to lay aside all our selfish desire, go where he tells us to go, while we trust and obey. He will show you the way. That He has promised.
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because, He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2019
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Credits
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.