Speaking Truth in Love

This is a thought I return to frequently ... in a way, it has become my favorite self-correcting phrase ...

Speaking truth in love. I have heard others speak on this concept, and I have pondered it many times. It helps me center myself when dealing with a difficult person and when I am dealing with someone I don't want to hurt.

Without truth, love becomes mere sentiment - a "go, I wish you well" outlook on the world that is not offensive, but has little real value. Love without truth becomes cruel, saying I care about you but I will not help you - because I want you to be "happy" being yourself. Frankly, I need help to keep me from becoming my own downfall. If you love me, you'll get involved in my life - especially when I am on a destructive path.

Without love, truth becomes callous and hardened, uncaring, and destructive - putting demands on us, but offering no help to us to meet those demands. Truth is like a reinforced concrete bunker, impervious even to the radiation of an atomic blast. It is real, but it offers nothing to those who fail ...

Ah, but truth in love ... that is balm to the soul, help to the weak, rest to the weary, and comfort to the afflicted. In some respects, not dissimilar to the structure of a human being. Truth is the hard reality that gives shape to our life, but it is not bare. It is instead surrounded by a layer of flesh, of warmth and softness and strength that cover the starkness of the truth into something more familiar, more attractive ... a person.

To speak truth in love seems to be the highest goal a human being has for his interactions with others. To speak truth into their life in such a way that they receive it, that they see its beauty, and that they see its value. To speak truth patiently, kindly, to look to the interest of others before your own, and to not have your own agenda is to love. To speak in such a way that truth is received and recognized for what it is, a precious gem or a light that guides your path for your benefit. This is what it means to speak the truth in love.

God himself has spoken. I believe He has spoken through His Word and through His Son. Jesus is the Truth. God is Love. What He does, he does for ultimate goodness. We don't have Jesus here before us today, and though God's invisible qualities are apparent in creation, they don't give us enough. We need to see, in our mind's eye, Jesus as the embodiment of Love and Truth, sent from the Father to us. We can look to others as living embodiments of His image, but that image is marred, impure, and dim. We see Him through faith, to be sure, but not just faith in faith, or faith for its own sake or faith in fables or cunningly devised tales. Instead we see Jesus as He is by God's Word. If God Himself does not tell us what He is like, we are lost. If God Himself did not preserve the record of his coming, we would have clue. We are at His Mercy - to have patience with us, to have pity on us, to condescend to come down to us. We need his benevolence to take the next breath.

Truth in love. Christ is the model. He did not compromise truth, yet spoke appropriately to people to give them what they needed, in order to accomplish His purposes in the moment. He drew people to himself, though he often offended some. He attracted the weak, the suffering, and the powerless, yet did not spurn the strong, the proud, and the powerful. He confronted all of them on occasions with their sin and their need for Him.

He was not interested in a show, nor did he try to accumulate political power. He called the greatest in His Kingdom to serve others. He turned the world's values upside-down. He did not compromise himself, yet he did not bow to political correctness. He honored God above men, yet did not needlessly offend. He piqued the interest of Roman officials and of prostitutes. He spoke to people and they immediately left home and livelihood to follow Him. He is not safe, but He is good.

Truth in Love. Truth and Love in action. Two legs of a runner spreading the Good News to the ends of the Earth ...