One of the early meanings of the Greek term for truth, aletheia, was to tear away a veil. Truth is "unveiled reality”; reality as seen through God's eyes. The Apostle John liked to combine this concept of truth with one of his favorite terms, light: "Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (John 3:21). Where the light of truth shines, revelation happens, deception disappears, and reality becomes visible.
The light of truth exposes lies where they would otherwise go unnoticed, which may be painful. It is tempting to avoid confrontation and justify that decision in the name of "love”: "I don't want to hurt the other person's feelings.” However, our hesitation to confront often has little to do with our concern for the other person. Rather, we are concerned about our own feelings. We don't like to confront others because we fear rejection and don't relish the difficult task of walking beside them through the process of change. Thus it is understandable that we try to avoid communicating the truth. But this should never be done in the name of love. One of the indispensable components of love is to minister truth to other people.
(Learn more about Truth with the help of The 3 Colors of Love)
