by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the truth hurts.<\/p>\n
We’ve heard it said, “The truth hurts.” Who hasn’t been stung when the truth is critical to us personally or contradicts us in some way? The truth can tend to expose our deficiencies and pierce our souls. Sometimes, our reaction to constructive criticism<\/em> is hurt feelings, which might morph into resistance to the critique, even though we know that if we changed, it would be better for us. But, stubborn people that we can be, we dig in and refuse. Somebody once said. “The truth will set you free, but first, it will make you mad.” Yes, sometimes the truth hurts.<\/p>\n We can learn from some ancient priests and elders how they reacted to the truth when Jesus flatly brought them to a decision (Matthew 21:23-27). When they challenged Jesus’ authority, He simply asked them about John’s (the Baptist) baptism. Was it from God and thereby approved by Him, or was it simply a man-made ritual? They were between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They couldn’t say John’s baptism was from God because that would authenticate Jesus and His work since John endorsed Jesus. To agree that John’s baptism was from God would be to recognize the authority of Jesus. They couldn’t repudiate John because everyone else thought John was certainly a God-approved prophet. So they played dumb.<\/p>\n Do we do as these ancient religious leaders did? When we read or hear God’s word, and it flatly contradicts our beliefs, our inclinations, or our actions, do we just decide not to deal with it at all? Maybe we look for excuses (“I couldn’t help it!”), or even rationalizations (“Look at him over there! He does the same thing!”). But all the excuse-making and rationalizing doesn’t change the truth. As Winston Churchill once said, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”<\/p>\n Jesus said we’ll be judged by truth, specifically the truth of His word (John 12:48). While the truth can hurt when it points out our flaws, ignoring it hurts worse. Yes, sometimes the truth hurts, but it always helps.<\/p>\n “He who rejects me and does not receive my word has one who judges him. The words I spoke will judge him on the last day<\/em>” (John 12:48).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Zeke Flores Sometimes, the truth hurts. You’re losing your hair. (Ouch!) You’re a little overweight. (Double ouch!) You’re in sin. (OOOWWW!) We’ve heard it said, “The truth hurts.” Who hasn’t been stung when the truth is critical to us personally or contradicts us in some way? The truth can tend to expose our deficiencies…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[50,441],"class_list":["post-67699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-repentance","tag-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90001,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-fear-of-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":67699,"position":0},"title":"In Fear of Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson In Acts 24, Paul spoke the truth to power, and power got scared. Felix, Paul's audience, chose to ignore the truth in spite of its obvious effects on him, and was worse off for it. Sometimes the truth hurts the hearer, and sometimes it hurts the truth-teller.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91008,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":67699,"position":1},"title":"Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores There it stands in all its unvarnished, audacious boldness. It dares us to grasp it, to apprehend and understand it, to obey it. Truth tells us what we don't want to hear (turn from sin!) and urges us to do what we don't want to do (be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91062,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/because-i-tell-you-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":67699,"position":2},"title":"Because I Tell You the Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul had no desire to be the enemy of anyone. He had every right to expect that people should and must appreciate truth, even if it hurts at first. The truth teller is telling the truth because that is what love demands. Love demands that people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-place-of-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":67699,"position":3},"title":"The Place of Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Why some won't listen Have you ever heard someone say, \"Don't preach to me!\" Preaching is not always appreciated. The rebellious inner self, the Bible says, must be put aside. In its place, there must be childlike humility. We must be willing to yield control of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19570,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-more-can-i-tell-my-ex-boyfriend-to-convince-him-of-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":67699,"position":4},"title":"What more can I tell my ex-boyfriend to convince him of the truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I currently attend a church of Christ. The reason I'm contacting you is that my now ex-boyfriend attends a Baptist church. He recently broke up with me because of religious differences. I would not attend his services because I believe that they are worshipping incorrectly. He didn't think our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63469,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-denominations-be-refuted\/","url_meta":{"origin":67699,"position":5},"title":"Should Denominations Be Refuted?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 119:97-104 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some brethren are, well, squeamish when denominations are publicly refuted \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a fear that visitors, their friends and relatives, will be offended by such plain language \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the end, there is more allowance for sin to continue unchecked. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is it possible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}