Speaking the Truth in Love

“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” Ephesians 4:15

Growing up in church culture, I have often heard this verse quoted (especially by women) following a good old-fashioned gossip session or after someone has just given another person a piece of their mind. “Well,” they say, “I was just speaking the truth in love.” If that’s the case, I think they fell short before reading the next part of that verse: “growing in every way more and more like Christ.” 

If we are speaking the truth in love, the result should be that others are lifted up because of the godly character being developed in us. If you are speaking the truth in love, your words will have to pass the love test in 1 Corinthians 13. Read verses 4-7: 

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

If you are speaking the truth in love, your words will be kind, not proud or rude, not demeaning or irritable. Your words will not be about how you were wronged or about celebrating injustices. Your words will be full of faith and hopeful. When you speak the truth in love, it’s a conversation that Jesus Himself would be pleased to sit in on. You are growing more and more like him.