Truth in Love

Ephesians 4:11-16

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

This passage is filled to the brim with many important topics for the body of Christ. Unity, spiritual gifts, edification of the body of Christ, truth, love, growth of the body of Christ, and how we are to beware of the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. All of these things are necessary for followers of Christ to understand and to practice daily. We live in a time when people are saying evil is good and good is evil. We need to interact with fellow believers in love, but also God's truth. We do not get to change His words to suit ourselves and to practice false doctrines that pull people away from God. We are told in verse 14 that we are to put away being children who are blown about by every little thing they hear that sounds good to them. Recently I watched a clip on children in a social experiment. A man got the mom's permission to test their children regarding stranger danger and whether the children would go with him if he approached them with a puppy and was friendly. Every single child went with the man. You could see the horror on the mom's faces watching this because they all had taught their children to beware of strangers and to not go with anyone but them. 

Children live life in a child-like faith that makes them believe everything they hear without any wisdom to go along with the belief. We too, babes in Christ, often fall into the same traps as those little children. It takes hard work, perseverance, and obedience to grow past believing everything we hear and to spiritually discern what the Spirit is saying to us through God's Word. It also takes a willingness to die to self and to listen to God instead of the world. 

I say all of this to say we are called to speak to one another in love and in truth, even when those we are talking to do not want to hear it.  We cannot water down the truth of God in order to make people feel better about themselves. We cannot water down the truth of God to give people false hope that everything they do is fine as long as they are loving to others. Followers of Christ walk the hard path, the narrow one, the painful one where what we believe is often rejected, and we are called many harsh names in order to abide in Christ and be true to His Word. There is much joy in Jesus though. When we love others more than ourselves, then we can speak the truth in that love and do it from an attitude of humility instead of confrontation. 

Knowing the truth of God, who in your life needs you to be faithful to speak that truth in love so that they put off from them the sin that is trapping them? In what ways do you need to grow up so that you are no longer a little child tossed about by any little thing you hear? Which strangers need to be turned away so that you are not caught in the net of deception by enticing words? Who can you help today to walk the hard, narrow, painful path that is full of abundant joy because it is the path of Jesus and toward Him?