“Rescue those being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.”
~ Proverbs 24:11
You are driving at night on a two-lane blacktop through a mountain pass. The road is winding and the countryside is beautiful but unlit. As you travel along, a bright gleam of headlights comes into view up ahead. As you slowly approach it, you soon realize that the road has been washed out by a flash flood. But because there are no streetlights, you cannot see the devastation. A driver in a pickup has also come to the washed-out bridge. He is the first to get there and skids to a stop, stomping his brakes at the last minute to avoid plunging off the bridge. He gets out and waves his flashlight in your path.
Now, picture two possible scenarios. He could wave for you to keep going, with a wide, friendly grin, so that you “feel good” about your trip. Or he could wildly flail his arms, shine his flashlight, and holler for you to stop. The first approach feels much nicer, but will lead to your certain destruction. The second approach feels like an attack, but it will quite literally save your life.
Exposing sin is just like that. Everyone in the world is speeding along on their merry way in a spiritual blackout, hurtling toward eternal destruction. If we coddle them or are afraid to rock the boat, then we are like the man who calmly watches you plunge off the bridge without warning or protest. True love shines the light, even if it startles or embarrasses someone, because that is the only way they can stop, turn, and live.
“Rescue those being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11).
Light exposes what is hidden. “All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light” (Ephesians 5:13). Evangelism is not a process of just being nice to people. No one repents of a sin until they know they are guilty of it. Real love confronts the truth. Jesus said, “This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Men and women in this world would rather remain in a cave than under the bright light of the sun. But the only hope they have is that the light shines in and exposes their darkness and sin so that they can flee to Christ.
Exposing sin is not the same as graphically describing lurid details. Ephesians 5:12 says that some things are too shameful even to talk about in detail. Exposing sin means calling sin what God calls it and presenting His remedy. Let your lifestyle confront darkness, or sometimes you will need to let your words do it. In either case, you are commissioned as a walking reproof, a living flashlight in a dark room. If you hide your light, no one will see. Who in your life needs the truth, not just tolerance?
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