We love to be correct. It makes us feel as though we have purpose. It is an aspect of our God-given longing for effectiveness. As we align ourselves with the truth, we participate in God’s Kingdom and economy.
But there is more to the truth than knowing the correct answer.
When we sense we have the correct knowledge, a jolt of energy runs through us. We feel as though we are winning at life. In other words, our emotions are heightened because something we value (truth, purpose) is being pressed.
2 Timothy tells us that God’s people handle truth with grace. They do not adopt positions of intellectual superiority. In humility, they become witnesses to the truth.
Emotions traditionally labeled as positive can be just as destructive as those we label as negative. All emotion is neutral. It is what we do with it that makes the net gain positive or negative. Our flesh wants to use emotion to validate the greatness of ME. The Spirit longs to use emotion to fuel self-awareness, self-governance, and healthy participation in the kingdom of God.
Truth is more complicated than knowledge. It transcends emotion. Although it includes both of these things, it is also bigger than either on its own. It takes patience and grace to acquire the truth.
“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”
– 2 Timothy 2:24-26