Know It All?
It seems inevitable that when one sticks up for the truth of God, especially in an area of disagreement with the religious world, he is going to be charged with a know-it-all attitude. Regardless of how hard one tries to have the spirit of Christ in telling someone he is wrong, he is going to be charged sometimes with being unkind and untactful.
We must face the fact that some do not want to hear the truth. Truth offends some, and it matters not how tactfully one tries to present it to others, there will be times when one is charged with being narrow minded, or with being surrounded with “righteous robes.”
At the risk of being accused of being unkind, we must lovingly preach the truth! How can we keep from being accused of being unkind and untactful?
Consider Jesus! He drove the money changers out of the temple. He called the religious people of his day hypocrites, blind, and fools. He said they were like white washed tombs. He spoke as one having authority and not as the scribes. Was Jesus unkind, untactful, and displaying a “holier than thou” attitude?
The fact is that there is one way. That way is found in the Bible. When one teaches that one way, he will be accused of many things. However, that does not keep the Bible from being right, or the truth from being the truth.
How are we going to teach the truth about marriage and divorce, fornication and adultery, purity and holiness, faithfulness and loyalty, without offending those who do not want to obey these commands? At the risk of being accused of being unkind, we must lovingly preach the truth!
It is not easy to teach the truth in a world filled with error. Jesus was the Saviour of the world, and they crucified him because of his teaching. The prophets of God were stoned and killed because of their teaching. We must understand that there has always been opposition to God and truth, and there always will be. Anytime we make any attempt to tell people they are wrong, we place ourselves in a position of possibly being accused of being a know-it-all, prejudiced, narrow-minded, and a number of other choice words.
How does one teach the one church of the New Testament (Eph. 4:4; 1:22,23), or the only kind of music authorized in the N.T. is singing (Eph. 5:19; Col 3:16), or that the only New Testament organization is that of elders and deacons over each congregation (Tit. 1:5-9), and not offend those who do not believe these verses?
What we must remember is that Paul said, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (I Cor. 9:16)
Another verse we surely need to remember is I Corinthians 4:6, “that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written.”
– Max Patterson, 4438 South 89th Road, Bolivar, MO 65613-8012
