There are some things in life that you shouldn’t talk about publicly (ironically, it’s those very things we seem to be most drawn to!). We shouldn’t talk about someone’s weight (publicly, but if we’re concerned for a friend’s health, absolutely we should talk TO our friend!), not their personal intimate life (again, there are times when you go to someone privately, especially if it’s a brother or sister in error against God), nor their personal lives and habits (gossip and slander are offensive to God and should be to us!). Yet, we, as believers in Christ MUST talk about sin, and confront it, first, in ourselves, and then in those around us. For the last 50 years or so, we’ve been told it’s rude to talk about religion and politics, to a point where they want Christians to be silent, no longer just in the public arena, but also in churches (the Bible hurts people feelings, and it denounces certain lifestyles. But we need to have these conversations.
Let me put it this way: If I knew the cure for cancer, even if the removal of said cancer was painful and costly, I would be selfish to keep it to myself. I would be considered selfish for keeping it to myself, probably drawing animosity from the world. Yet, if I share it, and the cure is costly and painful, I will still draw detractors who will accuse me of trying to make money, accuse me of everything from poisoning people to changing people, even should the cure prove to be a success. In the same way, Christian, we have the cure for the great Spiritual cancer: sin. This is the very thing that separates us from our God and makes us dead on arrival the moment we’re born. We’re rebellious creatures, prone to defy our designer and lover of our souls. When we tell the truth, we’ll be accused of many things, especially when people are so remarkably different after encountering Jesus, that people don’t recognize them any more! But we must boldly proclaim the truth without fear. We must speak the truth in love to our neighbor, and talk about sin and its cure! Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life. There is no true life without Him. Isn’t that worth sharing?
John 14:1-14
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."
