Ephesians 4:11-15 states: "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ."
For me it is the last line of this text that is one of the most challenging to live into. Somehow, it serves as a call to admonishment and accountability; something we humans don't do very well. It seems to me that we either err on the side of caution, hiding behind some fantasy notion of love, and fail to speak the truth at all or we run to the opposite end of the spectrum and use the truth as a weapon with no sense of compassion for the other person involved. Dallas Willard once put it like this, "truth without love is brutality and love without truth is hypocrisy." If your experience is anything like mine, we have visited both sides of this spectrum as both victim and perpetrator.
If we are ever to grow into the fullness of Christ in our lives, we will need to learn the art of truth telling. This will require us to see God's gifts in others. This will require us to work together as the body of Christ; growing together in faith, knowledge and unity. This will mean that we will have to learn to navigate the space between hypocrisy and brutality; to live so authentically that we are able to speak truth in love and grow in Christ likeness.
Today's prayer - Gracious God, help us to see others as you see them. Guide us to be reflections of you especially in times of difficult conversations. Grant us the discernment and grace to speak real truth in authentic love that way the body of believers to which we belong is strengthened and might grow in your promise of knowledge, unity and faith. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.
For me it is the last line of this text that is one of the most challenging to live into. Somehow, it serves as a call to admonishment and accountability; something we humans don't do very well. It seems to me that we either err on the side of caution, hiding behind some fantasy notion of love, and fail to speak the truth at all or we run to the opposite end of the spectrum and use the truth as a weapon with no sense of compassion for the other person involved. Dallas Willard once put it like this, "truth without love is brutality and love without truth is hypocrisy." If your experience is anything like mine, we have visited both sides of this spectrum as both victim and perpetrator.
If we are ever to grow into the fullness of Christ in our lives, we will need to learn the art of truth telling. This will require us to see God's gifts in others. This will require us to work together as the body of Christ; growing together in faith, knowledge and unity. This will mean that we will have to learn to navigate the space between hypocrisy and brutality; to live so authentically that we are able to speak truth in love and grow in Christ likeness.
Today's prayer - Gracious God, help us to see others as you see them. Guide us to be reflections of you especially in times of difficult conversations. Grant us the discernment and grace to speak real truth in authentic love that way the body of believers to which we belong is strengthened and might grow in your promise of knowledge, unity and faith. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.
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