Day 2710 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

2 Corinthians 2:4 NIV

Yesterday we discussed the fact that Christ didn't come to this earth to bring condemnation or unleash God's wrath upon humanity. He came to bring salvation. He came to offer hope. He came to share a message of forgiveness of sin and the gift of a new life spent serving something far better than our depraved selfish desires. He came to help us all see that there is a better way than the one in which we've spent our entire lives living. He came to set us free through a truth that holds the power to break chains, tear down walls, and bring the dead to life.

However, somewhere along the line that message got all distorted and jumbled and confused as we realized that it simply wasn't popular. It's a message that every believer desperately wants everyone to hear and take to heart because we know the life-changing power it holds. We've felt the freedom. We've experienced the renewal. We've been able to learn to see life in a completely new way that this world simply cannot fathom without humble repentance and continued focus on growing in Christ.

But it’s also a message that is offensive to our fallen nature. It’s a message that confronts the darkness living in our hearts. It’s a message that tells us that we are in fact wrong, broken, fallen, and weak. It’s a message that goes starkly against this feel-good nonsense that we humans have been crafting and craving since time began. It’s a message that doesn’t slow down to take time to consider our fragile feelings, and in a world where feelings are king, anything that makes us feel bad is simply unwelcome.

So, it's not popular. It has never been popular. John the Baptist started sharing this message of a coming Messiah who would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. He was beheaded. Jesus came and fulfilled that message and shared even more truths and lessons that those in power didn't like and didn't want anyone to hear. He was crucified. The disciples spread out into other countries taking the Gospel with them where they were imprisoned and killed. The truth of God's word has never and will never be popular because it goes against everything that this wicked world has decided is okay.

But this world runs on popularity, and since we feel so strongly about the Gospel and yearn so desperately for it to be heard so that it can save others as it has saved us, it's easy to start wondering how we can make it more appealing. We start looking for ways to make it more entertaining or less harsh to the ears that don't want to hear it. Perhaps we start glossing over certain topics because we know that they're extremely polarizing. Or maybe we'll leave out certain parts that we know will offend. Perhaps we'll even go so far as to distort the truth of sin and the need for repentance in order to keep people from turning away.

This world has become focused on so many things that just don't matter. People are running around in this frantic effort to gain approval from the world around them. And rather than keeping ourselves focused on the task at hand, we allow that same kind of consideration to sneak into our mission as Christians. But what nobody seems to realize is that in order to gain worldly approval, we have to be willing to let go of a lot of things. This world hates truth, so we'll have to stop sharing the truth. This world hates those who go against the grain, so we'll have to give up and fall in line. This world doesn't like this message of sin and condemnation, so we'll have to stop speaking out against the evils in this place.

The problem with all of this catering to the world is that it's being done in an effort to accomplish something that doesn't, and honestly shouldn't be done. It's done to make the truth more appealing. But the truth doesn't need to be made more appealing. The truth needs to be exactly what it is because bending it or twisting it in any way whatsoever only alters its message and if we take it upon ourselves to alter this message then we're only encouraging someone to believe in a lie that's been crafted to make them comfortable rather than encouraging them to humble themselves to believing a truth that confronts their sinful comfort and leads them to repentance wherein true salvation lies.

Or maybe some are trying to make the truth of the Gospel more appealing and popular so that it's easier to defend against those who will continue to attack it in this effort to undermine its power. Again, God's word doesn't need to be defended. That's the amazing thing about truth: Truth is always truth and no amount of displeasure or dissenting opinions can change it. Truth has no fractures, no weak points, no possible way to be disproven because it's simply fact. And as much as many don't like facts and truth, it doesn't rely on approval or acceptance for its power.

My point is that we've been entrusted with a message that saves lives by changing lives. If we change that message then it loses the ability to change those who hear it. If we tweak it to cater to what people want to hear then we're putting their desires above the desires of our Father for all people everywhere to stop living in sin and turn back to Him and repent of our wickedness so that He can heal our hearts and lead us to the promise of Heaven. I think that's the underlying issue. What's more important, this world or the one to some?

We have to stop worrying about those who don't like the truth we have to share. It's inevitable. It's been happening forever and it's going to go on being unpopular into the days ahead. But we shouldn't change it to avoid that. We shouldn't run from the pushback. We shouldn't worry about the persecution. We shouldn't alter the Gospel to make more people like it or like us. We should simply do as this verse tells us to do: set forth the truth plainly and commend ourselves to the consciences of those who hear it. Because we're here to serve God, seek His glory, and please Him. What this world likes, thinks, or believes should be of absolutely zero concern.

Look, if we share the truth found in God's word there will be many who don't like what they hear. And because the comfort of sin is so powerful, they'll simply choose to ignore what we say and keep on doing as they've done. But when the day of reckoning arrives, they'll not be able to say we didn't warn them. And we won't have to tell Christ that we failed to try to shepherd His flock. But if we tweak it, if we avoid the hard topics, if we cater to the desires of this place and distort God's truth in order to do so, then on that day of judgement we will have failed and will have to watch those we could have tried to help be turned away from Heaven.

As much as many apparently believe it is, this isn't a game. We don't get to come up with new rules or set aside the parts that we don't like. We are here to simply stand and deliver God's word to the world around us. We are to present ourselves as the unafraid and unashamed Christians that we claim to be. We are to be those who boldly share a truth that the world needs to hear, not once stopping to worry about whether or not it's what someone may want to hear. Mouths will curse us. Ears will ignore us. Hearts will harden as the sin within causes them to close out the truth of God that requires them to change.

But in the end, consciences will hear and they will testify that we did in fact speak the truth and that we never shied away from it. As we've been discussing, this is a war and it's one for the salvation of souls. The people and the opinions and the desires and the preferences may get in the way, but we need to keep our focus on what it is that we're trying to do here. We're trying to get the message of Christ out to the souls who are lost within the darkness of sin and immorality. Don't get caught up worrying about anything else.

Just speak the truly plainly, present the Gospel of Christ, stand firmly upon God's word, and let Him worry about the rest. We just toss the seeds my friends, where they land and whether or not they take root and grow is simply out of our hands. As it should be. Nothing to hide, nothing to gain, nothing to lose.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold