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Truth and Love

             Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

You can tell the truth in hate or in love. You can lie in hate. I disagree with the idea that you can lie in love, except perhaps when dealing with someone with dementia or another memory issue. I know many people believe it’s loving to tell the “little white lie” that makes someone feel better about some minor issue like how they look, but I don’t believe that’s really loving them. It’s protecting yourself from facing their negative responses. We’d rather let them look like idiots all day rather than hurt their feelings by suggesting they could make a better wardrobe choice.

Following the logic of the verse, if we speak the truth in love, we’ll grow or mature. We will become like Christ. If we speak the truth in hate or lie, we will not grow but will become less like Christ. Part of growing and maturing is taking responsibility for what we say and do, which can only happen if we are speaking the truth in love. This doesn’t mean being nasty. It doesn’t mean lacking tact. But it means not validating someone’s inaccurate claim just to make them feel better.. It also doesn’t mean walking up to someone one has never seen before, getting in their face and spitting our own claims at them “for their good.” It does not involve manipulation.

If we are going to become in every respect the mature body of Christ, we must do as He did. That means truth and love. Otherwise, even if we aren’t being sinful, we are being childish and/or irresponsible.

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