I don’t know about you, but in the midst of this pandemic and civil unrest, I am sick and tired of listening to news outlets and politicians and Monday-morning-quarterbacks spin their versions of the truth. The spinning is obvious, and they’re all doing it to advance their own agenda. So who or what are we supposed to believe? It seems to me that very few are actually concerned with the health and well-being of people — all people.

Thankfully, the vast majority of people just keep getting up early every day to work hard, love their families, and serve their communities — and that demonstration of love is beautiful. You won’t see love on the news because it doesn’t increase ratings. You won’t hear politicians talk about love because hatred and fear are what inflames their base in an election cycle. And Monday-morning-quarterbacks won’t talk about love because it doesn’t make them noticeable. When leaders are motivated more by their desire for power and significance than they are by a selfless passion for serving, we get what we’ve got right now — a mess.

Everyone knows that leadership abhors a vacuum. The same can be said of truth. In the absence of authoritative leadership and truth, something will seek to fill the void, and it usually isn’t good. Proverbs 29:18 declares, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Yes, in the midst of the chaos we are currently experiencing, people are suffering and even dying. That’s what happens in the absence of authoritative truth and leadership.

Jesus arrived on the scene during very similar circumstances. A host of religious groups and political entities were vying for power. Amid the noise, Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. See Matthew 5,6, and 7. His sermon was described this way, “He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” Matthew 7:28. Jesus led with authority, and what He taught carried the weight of authority. If you haven’t read or listened to the Sermon on the Mount lately, or ever, I strongly encourage you to do so. Its message is the authoritative truth we need today.

During this pandemic and civil unrest, we have had politically, religiously, socially, economically, and racially motivated versions of the truth thrown at us from every angle. The lack of authoritative truth and leadership has been devastating. Jude’s description of people who invent their own self-serving versions of the truth fits this moment well; they are “shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead”. See Jude 12. In other words, they offer empty promises and tease us with a hope that never materializes.

Friends, this is nothing new. While we view our current circumstances as rather extraordinary, they are not. Wars, famines, natural disasters, plagues, slavery, genocide, racism — all of these have been repeated again and again throughout human history. King Solomon declared in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Have you ever noticed that every presidential election is described as the most important election of our lives? They’re described that way because humanity exists in a perpetual mess created by a lack of authoritative truth and leadership. Actually, the problem isn’t that we lack authoritative truth and leadership — the problem is humanity rejects authoritative truth and leadership. We reject it because we don’t like what it requires: the death of self. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” See John 15:13.

The rejection of authority and truth results is great darkness. But in the midst of the darkness, Light has come into the world, and friends, the darkness cannot overcome it. John talks about that Light in the first chapter of his gospel.

The Light John is describing is the authoritative truth and leadership of God provided in Jesus Christ, the Word of truth Who became flesh and lived among us — and died for us — the greatest demonstration of selfless love the world has ever experienced.

What I am writing does not suggest that Christians cannot hold differing opinions. Of course, we can. Genuine Christians can be Democrat or Republican or Independent, Jew or gentile, male or female, slave or free. See Galatians 3:28. But if the expression or defense of those opinions causes us to love God or our neighbor less, than we are rejecting truth and adding to the darkness. Jesus gave us the truth that rises above all human inventions and contrivances. He summed up authoritative truth in this one soaring command, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength and with all of your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Selfless love is the authoritative truth the world needs, and those who demonstrate selfless love are the authoritative leaders the world is desperately seeking. When we demonstrate selfless love to each other, we bring light into the darkness. Friends, let’s just love each other deeply from the heart. And let’s find ways to demonstrate that love by actually laying down our lives for each other. By God’s grace, we can do it — we can bring light into the darkness.

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love — honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.

On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:9-21