The Balance of Truth and Love || Ephesians 4:15 || Manna for the Mind #206

Ephesians 4:15      

In describing what a mature Christian is, Paul says that one descriptor is the ability to “speak the truth in love.” Now, this sounds simple, but it’s REALLY difficult. We don’t want to hurt people’s feelings nor do we want to create any strife or discomfort in a relationship. So, we’ll instead tell a white-lie or not tell the full truth in order to spare someone or salvage the relationship. Some people are relatively good at telling the truth but forget to be loving. These people will say they just “tell it like it is” or they’ll just blurt it out without considering the time, place, or situation. Some people are good at being loving but are difficult with being honest for the reasons I mentioned earlier.

To build up the church, we must do both: speak the truth, and speak it in love. Think about how much less chaos there will be if we followed with this mindset. When you have a problem with another believer, don’t gossip about it. Don’t demean the person. Don’t seek revenge. Allow time to breathe after a time of chaos, but also yourselves the chance to time a conversation about what happened. Allow both sides to speak their truth, but not in an attacking or prideful mindset. Listen to what each other has to say. See where the truths that occurred. See where the errors occurred. Work toward restoring the relationship. You don’t have to be in a friendship, but you have to get a point where you can respect one another. Each person is a human and deserves to be treated as such. You do not have to like the person or anything they do, but you do have to treat them with respect. I’m sure you have had someone come to mind in this conversation. Go to them. Speak the truth about what’s going in love.

Next slice of manna: Manna for the Mind #207