If someone challenged you to choose three words to describe Jesus, which would you pick?

Righteous?

Compassionate?

Loving?

All those would be good choices, but here’s another description that doesn’t usually make it to the top of our list.

Honest.

Jesus was honest. He told a woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” He called the Pharisees and Sadducees “a brood of vipers.” To their face.

Jesus didn’t mince words. He said, “I am the bread of life. . . . Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. . . . the one who feeds on me will live because of me. . . . Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”

His teaching was so new, so fresh, so honest, that some who followed him walked away (John 6:35-60).

That happens today, too, when we tell people the truth about Jesus. Some turn and leave because they can’t handle the demands Jesus makes on our lives. But many more, hungry for the truth, can’t resist Jesus when we’re honest about him. And that’s only one of five results I’ve seen when churches decide to be honest.

This is the time when writers and websites everywhere are giving space to a look at the year just past. It’s a good thing. I joined them with my reflection last week on the five most popular posts on this blog in 2019. But now it’s time to look ahead. I’m not bold enough to make predictions, but I do want to talk about three trends the church must not ignore as we begin a new decade.