I remember this phrase from my childhood. It was not uncommon for my parents or grandparents to use this phrase when giving me their bits of wisdom. It meant that they were seeing a situation as it truly was, not sugar-coating it trying to paint a negative action into a positive light. It usually was an effort to persuade me from becoming friends with people who could influence me in a manner unfit for a Christian. They wanted me to see the consequences that could occur and understand that it could happen to me if I didn’t see things as they were. As I look back, I used this same method of teaching with my own children. As Christians, when we yield to the leadership of the Holy Spirit He will direct us in seeing the truth. It is much better for our lives to learn from others’ mistakes, than from our own. Therefore, it is important that we “call it like it is.”
In I Thessalonians 2:15-16, Paul is “calling it like it is” when he speaks of the Jews who opposed the gospel. His first charge was the death of the Lord Jesus. He lays the charge of murder at their door. In Acts 2:23, Luke gives us the account that supports Paul’s indictment. Acts 2:23 “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” Paul understood both sides of persecution. Before his salvation experience, he too was a Jew that stood by and watched and encouraged the persecution of Christians. Acts 22:20- “And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.” Paul knew the truth about how the Jews felt about Christians. He preached to them over and over, Jesus himself preached to them, but only a remnant would believe. The others were so steeped in their religion that they could not and would not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Even though they were once God’s chosen people to bring the Messiah into the world, chosen to represent God to the world, as a nation they had failed miserably. They were very religious keeping the law and even adding things that seemed to them to make them more pious and prestigious. They were so caught up in their religion they missed the God of their religion. The Messiah they had longed for, prayed for, and waited to see, stood in their presence portrayed as a criminal. They missed what God sent for them and the salvation of the world because their religion was about them not about God.
Not only were the Jews against the truth about Jesus, but they were also angered that Paul would take this gospel to the Gentiles. The idea that he would teach the pagan world that they could get to God without going through them or keeping their laws sent them into a rage. In verse 16, Paul says they forbade him to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. In Acts 22:22, they wanted to kill Paul, one who had been of their elite was now taking the gospel they hated to those who were not of the Jews. The Jews became Paul’s and God’s greatest enemy.
I Thessalonians 2:15-16 “Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”
Acts 22:22 “And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.”
Paul always “called it like it was.” He never got over the fact that Jesus would die so that he could experience salvation. He understood that before his salvation, he was just like those who opposed him. In I Timothy 1:15, he calls himself the chief among sinners.
I Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
We each need to be like Paul and see ourselves as sinners saved by grace. We need to call it like it is when it comes to our own actions and attitudes. No one is better than anyone else, we are all created in the image of God, and given different circumstances, we are capable of anything. It is only by God’s grace that we are what we are and where we are in life. Are you seeing yourself through rose-colored glasses, thinking highly of yourself, and taking all the credit for anything good about your life? Our goal in this life should not be to be the best we can be according to the world’s standards, but according to God’s standards. Everything we are, and everything we do should reflect Him. If you want to call it like it is ask God to show you anything in your life that is not pleasing to Him, then by His grace and His power ask Him to help you change.
