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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Truth And Love "Instead, speaking the truth in love we will in all things grow up..." - Ephesians 4:15 "Speaking the truth in love". Just what do these key words really mean? There seems to be a great tension between these two concepts. What is love? It is the giving of yourself to someone else for his or her's well being and best interest. What is truth?
Truth is something that is universally There is lots of gray areas in life. There are lots of things that can be compromised on, but there is no compromised on the essence of truth. The struggle comes when you know what is truth and you find yourself in a situation where it is being compromised. How do you handle the situation? Is the situation beyond your control? Is it up to you to do something about the situation? This scripture says that you confront the situation in love. You speak the truth to someone because you know it is in their best interest to hear it. You speak the truth in a way that helps them respond in a positive fashion. You do not speak in anger or out of revenge. Thus the conflict comes between truth and love. It is easier to avoid the truth, but this is sloppy love. This is not love at all. God loves us, yet He is truthful, even if it hurts. God does not change His standards to make it easier for us, or because He is afraid to speak truth to us. He loves us, therefore He is honest with us. God doesn't change. We need to change. He will help us in the changing process. This is the truth and love He displays to us. Are we able to merge truth and love as He does? Can we speak truth without fear? Can we love as we ought? Truth and love, these are two difficult concepts to put together at times. We need His grace in our lives to work it all out, don't we. If we can do this we will "grow up in all things" as this verse tells us.
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