By Amie Mitchell
There is no escaping the reality that we live in a world where people are silent when they should speak, and at times some who do speak, do so disrespectfully.
Jesus tells us many times throughout the scriptures that we are called to speak the truth in love, along with how to treat one another and how to build healthy relationships.
A Few Scriptures That Come to Mind
Ephesians 4:15"Rather, speaking the Truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ."
Ephesians 4:25"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the Truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."
Ephesians 4:31-32"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
We often miss the fact that when we speak Truth, we are actually fighting for people, not trying to fight with them. Truth restores, it solves problems, and it can bring people closer.
It is loving to tell someone the truth. And yes, most of us have also experienced those times when speaking the truth didn’t go as we had hoped, yet it was still necessary to speak it.
We have a generation that is being deceived by the lies that the enemy has convinced them of. If we don’t speak the truth that can restore them, then we are not fighting for them as we should be. In our “being silent,” we are actually allowing lies to destroy them. People are surrounded by evil influences daily that are designed to lead them down a road to the deception that will hurt them greatly.
Within our families and friendships, we either don’t speak truth when we should, or we speak the truth in a disrespectful way.
At times, we shrink back from speaking the truth in love to avoid conflict. Other times it’s because we fear the bullies around us that want to keep us silent.
But yet, truth can resolve conflict and will lead to healthy relationships and can solve many problems at hand within our culture. Unresolved conflict within families and friendships destroys the relationships. And we can clearly see how it also affects the culture.
There are absolutely times that we do have to be firm and loud when we are speaking truth to certain situations where the deception that is at hand is destroying people. Not speaking truth destroys relationships and will actually create more unnecessary conflict.
So let us be people who learn how to speak the truth, and speak the truth that Jesus leads us to speak! Let us fight for people and lead them to be who God has called them to be.
Comments