Truth Hurts

     Have you ever said something to someone that was true but they got really mad at you? They didn't want to hear what you had to say, the truth of their actions or the situation hurt them, so they turned away from you or they picked a fight over it. It may have been something hard to hear like smoking cigarettes will kill you, your significant other is cheating on you, that money isn't yours even if someone left it laying out. People don't like to hear what they are doing is wrong, or hear hard things, even when they are true.
       Before I met my husband I was seeing a guy I worked with and we attended the same church, a lot of people at our church told me things about him that I didn't want to hear, that I didn't want to believe, and even when evidence of certain things were directly in front of me, I would go on with life pretending that everything was fine. I used to tell people all the time how great our relationship was, but in all honesty I was hurt, and depressed. It wasn't a good situation for me and I had people in my life at that time who told me that, but I couldn't see or hear the truth, I didn't want the truth.  At that time accepting the truth of the situation I was in was too painful and I knew that to change it, meant I had to change my life and most likely myself, something I just wasn't ready to do then.
      Taking the truth, God's word, to people in the world is a lot like that. People often don't want to see, hear, or believe in Him because it means they have to change. They don't want to accept that the way they are living life is wrong. We as Christians were warned that many would not listen, that we would be hated and persecuted for speaking the Living Word, but we were also given the Word and commanded to share it, to bare witness and testify in His name the wonders and love of our Father and salvation through His son and living sacrifice Jesus Christ.
      Eventually truth always comes to light, darkness and lies can not hold it back forever. With my situation I mentioned above I did eventually see that those who hurt me with the truth were the ones who truly cared. The seeds they planted with their words eventually helped to heal my heart and accept the truth. Do not be discouraged if people aren't listening today. Don't let their angry, dismissive, or disinterested responses deter you, keep proclaiming God's truth, even when it hurts. You never know what that seed may blossom into. Be blessed and seek the Lord.

John 8:42-47
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”