In Love

Eph.4:¹⁵ “Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”

The truth is that a lot of our loved ones that we have spent years talking to about Christ, are actually blind. They are blind to The Truth so they cannot receive the good news that you bring.

2 Cor. 4:⁶ (KJV) “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Sometimes, in order to open their eyes, God has to take them through tribulations and trials.Many people do not really want to pray for the salvation of their loved ones because they are afraid lest tribulation comes to them. However, if we really care for them, we have to pray and let God do what He alone can do. God wants us to speak the truth.

However, when it comes to the truth, there are two types of truth abusers. There are the naive truth abusers and the brutal truth abusers. The naive says things like, “I need to say how I feel because I want to tell you the truth. You know we are Christians, we are supposed to say the truth.” And because they are naïve, they say everything, even the things that should not be said. True story – two ladies had been friends and prayer partners for years. One day, one of them said to the other, “I feel that I have not been truthful and I need to be vulnerable with you. I am in love with your husband and I do not think you have been treating him well and that is the truth!” That is naivety and that is an ugly truth.

Of course, we know how that relationship will end. It unfortunately affected the marriage of the other lady. If you have an ugly truth, my sincere advice is, do not tell your friend. Tell Jesus to help you, take it to the Cross and nail it to the Cross. If you tell your friend you will mess things up. If you feel like you need further counsel after talking to God, then speak to your pastors and they will pray with you. The brutal truth abusers make statements like this, “I need to tell you as it is!” Some people are tilted more to the naive and some to the brutal. God’s Word says, speak the truth in love. So regardless of your inclination, the motive of speaking the truth should be in the interest of the other person.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me always speak Your Truth in love and consistently pray for people that are close to me but far from God, in Jesus Name. Amen!