The Love of the Truth

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10).

Those who do not possess a love of the truth will be lost. Their fate will be the same as the “lawless one” – the one who acts contrary to God’s revealed will who will be slain by the Lord. Why is it that we need to have a “love of the truth” in order to be saved? What will a love of the truth cause us to do?

  • Listen – If we love the truth, we will have a desire to know the truth. Jesus said that a willingness to know His will was first necessary before teaching would do any good. “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself” (John 7:17). We can know and understand the will of God, but we must first be willing to listen openly and honestly.
  • Act – If we love the truth, we will practice what we have learned. One may be willing to listen and have a desire to know about God and His will; but if he loves the truth, he will take the next step – obedience. Understanding and believing the word of God alone is not enough. James said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). After we know what the truth is, we must live according to it.
  • Teach – If we love the truth, we will want to share it with others. Beginning on the day of Pentecost, thousands of people in Jerusalem heard the truth of the gospel taught, were willing to listen, and obeyed the message (Acts 2:37-41; 4:4). Later, when persecution arose against the church, all of these people who had been converted to Christ were scattered from Jerusalem. Luke recorded, “Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). These people did not keep silent about the message of Christ. They taught it wherever they went.
  • Contend – If we love the truth, we will defend it against error. Paul told the saints in Philippi that he was “set for the defence of the gospel” (Philippians 1:17, KJV). Some are not going to like the message of the gospel and will fight against it. This happened in Paul’s day and it will happen today. We need to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). This leaves no room for compromise or tolerance of efforts to undermine or water down the gospel. Instead we need to be willing to “suffer hardship…as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).

When we do these things, we demonstrate our love for God’s truth. Are we doing these things? We need to be. Those who love the truth will be saved. Let us examine ourselves to determine where we stand before the Lord.


.