Can you imagine what it would have been like to encounter Jesus the Messiah during His earthly ministry?

From what we know in the Gospels, when people met Jesus they were either changed for the better or sunk deeper into their own self-deception.

He weaved through situations with ease and knew what to say and by which method to assert things with immediate discretion and notable sensibility.

Now on some level, we can chalk up His relational modes to being God incarnate, but there is always something grand and albeit sometimes frightening to realize that in reflecting on His humanity there is something we can and must emulate when it comes to evangelism.

Surrounding Jesus and His earthly ministry was a commitment to what I will call the three “Ts” of Trust.

We see these three concepts in Jesus’ commitment to God the Father as well as to all humanity.

In fact, these three “Ts” provide a good paradigm for how we can see our relationship to others and to the triune God.

To commit ourselves to our Lord Jesus is to model our life in a way where we build trust with others with our commitment to truth, transparency and transcendence.

First, Jesus was committed to telling people the truth.

We usually patter about with language to the point where words like “truth” lose their intended meaning.

Part of the church’s role in this broken world is to hold on to language and concepts and always be the first to defend what we say while being sure we know what we are saying.

Other than the occasional Pilates of the world, most of us know what truth is and that is anything that corresponds to reality.

Jesus was trothed to the Father through His divinity, and His humanity actualized this by living with a commitment to all things real. He spoke truth to whomever He encountered, and there was little tolerance to things that did not comport to reality.

Whatever was good, true and beautiful is and was from God the Father, so why would Jesus not entrust Himself to those things?

To the modern world, Jesus was radical because the Gospels showcase His grace and humility.

While that is true, it does not give the full picture. His willingness to forgive and showcase peace was grounded in His commitment to the reality of His Father.

His trust in the Father was built on the truth of knowing who God was and His relationship within the mystery of the Godhead.

The Spirit of God drew multitudes who put their trust in Jesus to give them the answers to life.

While many went away after hearing Jesus speak, others ultimately were born again to a new reality where Jesus was their Messiah and Lord.

For us, His followers, we need to be the type of people who seek out truth and live it out no matter the consequences.

Being evangelists to the truth will draw attention from seekers who are being drawn to the Gospel.

However, being a truthteller might also bring suffering and shame. My father once told me that some people will put up with anything as long as you do not tell them the truth. There is wisdom in that statement in that we should expect some pushback when we tell others about reality.

However, the potential suffering is far outweighed by the eternal promise of being a Christ-follower.

Engendering trust with others must start first with this Christ-like commitment to truth. Christian evangelism is emboldened and strengthened by trust and being trustworthy.

The awesome truth is that Christ as our model was not only a truth speaker and seeker but He was also the logos and, as such, was truth embodied.

To have His Spirit within us speaks volumes about the power of the Gospel and our calling as Christians.

Let’s be bold as Christ was brave. Our veracity grounded in the logos will cut through the darkness. Speak truth. Speak about Jesus!

This blog was originally published at evangelizeal.org.