Speak the Truth in Love

The following is  an excerpt from Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Currently this is our reading at night and it is an awesome book!  This passage below hit me hard.  I loved it.  So many people need this kind of truth, spoken in love of course...and not just on this particular topic.  God is awesome. 

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Graciously but firmly, we have to speak the truth in love.

An attractive young couple, whom I will call Michelle and Steve, came forward for prayer at the end of a Sunday service.  Both were nicely dressed – he in an expensive suit and $60 silk tie, she in a fashionable dress.  I could tell by the moisture in her eyes that something had touched her during the service.  By contrast, he seemed to hold back just a step, not looking me in the eye.
“Would you pray for us?” She asked.
“Certainly,” I said.  “What would you like me to pray about?”

“That God will bless our relationship,” she replied.

That line can mean anything, especially in New York City.  I felt prompted to ask a few more questions.

“Uh, before I pray, help me with a little background, if you will.  How long have you known each other?”

“A couple of years.”

The next question wasn’t exactly polite, but I felt the Spirit nudging me.  So, without the slightest change in my voice level or inflection, I said, “Are you living together?”

The shock was instantaneous.  Her eyelashes blinked; his head snapped up.  We stood there frozen for a second, staring at each other.  Finally she answer, “Well, uh…yes, we are.”

I nodded, then said, “Okay, that puts me in sort of a bind.  You want me to ask God to bless something that He has already expressed his opinion about.  He’s already made it clear in the Bible that living together outside of marriage is wrong.  So it looks to me like I’d be wasting everybody’s time to ask His help in this situation, wouldn’t I?

They just stared at me.  I pressed on.

“I tell you what – let’s get on track with God’s plan.  Steve, how about you finding another place to live – right now? You say you want God’s best for your relationship.  Okay, this is step number one.  This will open the door for many other good things.”

I could tell Steve wasn’t thrilled with the idea.

“Do you have family or friends in the city where you could stay tonight?”

No, he couldn’t think of anyone.

“Listen, we’ll get you a place to stay,” I said. “If God is real and you truly want His help in your life, then go His way.  Otherwise, do whatever you like!  Of course, it will destroy you in the end; you can’t change God’s consequences any more than you can change the law of gravity.”

He mumbled another excuse.  I called one of the lay helpers over and requested that Steve be provided with a bed for the night.

Steve and Michelle still weren’t sure.  “How about if we stay where we are but just don’t sleep together?  That would be all right, wouldn’t it?

I replied, “If you both profess to be Christians, you have to avoid the obvious physical temptation.  Besides, when you walk out of your apartment in the morning, what would a neighbor logically assume?  Do this thing right, all the way, okay?”

They finally agreed to the plan.

Some couples in the same situation, I must tell you, have not agreed.  They have said things like “Well, we’ll get back to you about that” and walked out.  But at least I could rest at night knowing I had told them the truth before God.