Truth is Shown through Love

“But Pastor Rob we have to remember that love without truth isn't love.” My friends in the evangelical community often feel the need to point this out after any message or video I produce that challenges us to love ALL people. 

I have learned a valuable lesson in my years as a follower of Jesus who is blessed to also be called a Pastor. That simple yet profound lesson is that my mission is to live a life of love that allows others to experience the fullness of God’s grace through how I treat them. Or said another way, our role is to shower unconditional love on every person we encounter because we have benefitted from unconditional love ourselves.

I suspect that many of us are confused by the idea that we are supposed to “judge people by their fruit”. I wholeheartedly agree with this concept, but probably not in the way you hope to hear. It is my heartfelt & biblically supported position that what I am supposed to actually focus on above all else is my own fruit. 

If my actions, theology, or beliefs create environments of hate, oppression, injustice, or harm then I must eradicate that fruit from myself while ensuring I don't allow other other outside forces that produce such fruit to have influence in the orchard of my heart. 

On the other hand if my actions, theology, or beliefs produce a life that provides spaces of safety where the oppressed find refuge, the hopeless find hope, and the marginalized find a champion then this fruit along with the sources that produce them should be cultivated in such a way that thrives in my heart while benefitting those in my circles of influence.

We must stop trying to convert people to our false westernized version of what we seem to believe Jesus came to establish because much of our modern day theology seems to be producing rancid fruit! Christian faith communities must become cultivators of orchards that produce the fruits we find in the beatitudes where Jesus describes His upside down kingdom as space for the very people we seem intent to exclude. Here is the hard part for too many of us; even if people don’t come to believe as we do, we must still journey with them so that we can learn from them while doing our part to ensure that they are able to thrive in this life.

So my answer to that often asked question is simply this: the only truth required is found embedded in the beautiful kingdom fruit planted by Jesus for His followers to cultivate for the benefit of ALL.