John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Who wants to be wrong? I’m assuming no one wants to be wrong. There is something about being wrong that is just, well, wrong. I want to confess something right now…

I’m obsessed with being right.

There, I said it. I bet some of you are the same as me. I’m obsessed with bringing truth. I believe the Gospel is the truth. The Gospel also brings grace. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. From what I have seen in my life and conversations with people in general, I lean on the truth end. I’m not saying I just destroy people with truth with no grace, I’m saying grace is a close second but my wanting to be right sometimes outweighs my wanting to show grace. There is just something about being wrong I don’t like but there is something about grace that I want more of it in my life and conversations.

I started to think about how I have been showing this in my life, in my marriage, and in ministry. How have I been showing Jesus to those around me? I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one, but some of us have an obsession with being right. Grace and truth come hand in hand. So what do we teach our students in our conversations and online? We need to remember our conversations matter. Grace without truth lies to people, and is not true grace. Truth without grace crushes people and it ceases to be truth. We need to remember how to show our students Jesus by showing grace instead of showing the world’s apathy and tolerance and offer truth instead our world’s deception and lies.

As their leaders we are to be examples of grace and truth in our actions and in our words with our students. They see how we respond to people online. They notice how we talk to others. They remember how we talk to them in situations where they are in need of both grace and truth.