Speaking the Truth in Love
If we were asked what we should do to grow spiritually, any of us might reply, "I need to pray more, I need to read my Bible more, I need to go to church more regularly." These are all good things to do, but they all neglect something the Apostle Paul describes to us.
"Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ," (Ephesians 4:15)
Here we see that growth is a community experience, and not exclusively individual. Paul says that "We will in all things grow up into him," not something like I will become more Christ-like. Spiritual growth is a community experience, and it comes about through our koinonia when we are "Speaking the truth in love."
Spiritual growth is not an exclusively individual experience. It is actually true to say that Christian growth is probably impossible apart from Christian community. And a big part of that growth comes about when we speak the truth to one another in love, as dangerous as that can be.
"Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ," (Ephesians 4:15)
Here we see that growth is a community experience, and not exclusively individual. Paul says that "We will in all things grow up into him," not something like I will become more Christ-like. Spiritual growth is a community experience, and it comes about through our koinonia when we are "Speaking the truth in love."
Spiritual growth is not an exclusively individual experience. It is actually true to say that Christian growth is probably impossible apart from Christian community. And a big part of that growth comes about when we speak the truth to one another in love, as dangerous as that can be.
posted by Ron Goetz | 6:48 PM
1 Comments:
It's interesting how Diane and Lissette both saw how the phrase "speaking the truth in love" gets abused. Diane, when you wrote how "bottled up anger comes spilling out all over me," I remembered how often my anger used to spill out on you for absolutely no reason. (Diane is my wife, for those of you who don't know us.) Too often people who endorse "speaking the truth in love" put a lot more emphasis on some kind of truth than on real love.
Speaking in love should, as you said, be "something deeper, and more positive as well." Deeper than shallow and angry opinions, something that will edify and encourage and bring healing, instead of spreading the injury around.
Lissette, you are right, our motivations are sooo important. It is incredibly easy to con ourselves into thinking that what we are saying is "for their own good," or think "you have to hear it from someone, so it might as well be me." Or just, "I'm saying this in love, my brother, in love."
The words "self-righteous" come to mind.
Your quoted phrases from I Corinthians 13 are an excellent measure for our so-called "speaking in love." It's way to easy to think that "love" in "speaking the truth in love" just means good intentions, and con ourselves into thinking that we really do have another person's best interests at heart. It's much better to measure the comments we contemplate by specific criteria.
Does what I am thinking about saying reflect patience?
Will what I am thinking about saying be constructive?
Am I proud because I think I don't have this person's problem?
Am I demanding my own way?
Am I irritable?
These measures take the "beautiful poetry" of chapter 13 and make it painfully practical!
Melanie, I wish more people could actually grow from conflict, as you said, "conflict with others gives us insight into ourselves," and that they would "change how they interact with people based on that" insight. Like they say in N.A., "Insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over, always expecting different results."
What keeps us from learning from our mistakes, from our conflicts with people?
Post a Comment
<< Home