When the Delivery No Longer Sounds Like Jesus.
When the Delivery No Longer Sounds Like Jesus
I’ve been watching people online lately, people I’ve loved, respected, and looked up to. Their words helped shape pieces of my faith in the early days. I took what rang true, held it up to Scripture, and let the Holy Spirit use it to draw me closer to Jesus until I knew Him for myself. I developed my own relationship with Him, not borrowed from anyone else.
But something has shifted.
It’s usually not the message itself that bothers me. It’s the delivery.
What I see now feels less like proclaiming Jesus and more like fighting feelings and opinions. The tone is sharp, defensive, angry. When we speak about Jesus, or on His behalf, it shouldn’t primarily cause defensiveness or walls to go up. It should stir a longing. It should create a draw toward Him.
If our words make people want to argue or retreat instead of leaning in with curiosity or hunger, we might need to pause and ask whose voice is really coming through.
Here’s what I’m learning: If we cannot love people who look different, live differently, or believe differently than we do, then we are not truly in Jesus' business.
Jesus didn’t come to argue people into submission. He came to seek and save the lost. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He showed mercy to the woman caught in adultery while her accusers stood there with stones in their hands. He offered living water to the Samaritan woman at the well, someone most religious people wouldn’t even speak to. He named the truth clearly, yet His presence often made room for people to draw near instead of run away.
Righteous anger has its place. When we see injustice, hypocrisy, or harm, something should stir in us. That “sting” of anger you feel? It’s often a good signal. But acting out of that anger, with a harsh tone, and claiming we’re doing it for Christ… there is no Christ in that. That’s just “you.” That’s flesh. That’s ego.
Scripture tells us to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Truth without love becomes brutality. Love without truth becomes sentimentality. We need both, held together in the same way Jesus held them.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control . When our online presence or our conversations consistently lack these, especially gentleness and kindness, we need to check the source. Is the Holy Spirit leading, or are we just venting our own opinions and calling it boldness?
I’m not saying we compromise truth. The things coming from those in power are DEPLORABLE! But, the way we carry truth matters deeply. The world already has plenty of fighting and noise. What it desperately needs is the unmistakable heart of Jesus shining through imperfect people like us.
If something online stirs anger in you, good,let it alert you. But don’t let that anger become the fuel for your response. Bring it to Jesus first. Let Him soften, refine, and redirect it. Then speak (or type) from a place of love that actually looks like Him.
My own faith journey taught me this: I can respect and learn from others, but at the end of the day, my relationship with Jesus has to be my own. I want to keep growing in a faith that draws people toward Him rather than pushing them away.
What about you? Have you noticed this shift in the way people talk about faith online? How do you guard the tone of your own heart when you feel that righteous anger rising?
Let’s be people who don’t just speak about Jesus, but who sound a little more like Him.
Remember always face the Sonlight
