Ephesians 4:15
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.
Recently I had to speak truth into a students life. It was about something that I knew would be kind of devastating to them, but I also knew it would help them grow. Tough conversations with students (those you care about) are never easy.
(What I’ve learned to help ease these inevitable conversations.) Investing in a deeper relationship with your students as a spiritual mentor and not just the cool adult makes speaking the truth in love easier. Meaning, solicited and unsolicited (leading of the holy spirit) truth should be spoken into their lives when the opportunity presents itself regularly, not just at times when its earth rattling. Conversations on natural things are great but you cannot forget engaging in the ones about the spiritual aspects of life. I’ve found that how I interact with them dictates the level of access I have to speak into their lives. So I must balance friend/cool adult with youth pastor/spiritual mentor. We never sacrifice our youth pastor/spiritual mentor hat for the friend/cool adult. When we do that we become neither. In fact, I would venture to say we become more of a stumbling block. -This also is a tip for believers in general. You can become a stumbling block for others when you decide to sacrifice what you know to be right for selfishness.
So here are some thoughts of mine on speaking the truth in love:
- Speaking the truth in love is caring about how you convey the truth that must be spoken.
- Speaking the truth in love (how you convey) is not allowing the change the truth of what you have to say. Speak the truth.
- Speaking the truth in love is putting the truth in a way that it doesn’t tear them down but builds them up.
- Speaking the truth in love is caring more about them being freed by the truth, than you not seeming cool, or creating weird tension.
- We speak the true in love because we believe God’s word is true. We believe its part of becoming more like Christ which is our goal for their lives as well as our own.
I’ve only posted a few but I would love for viewers to chime in and leave a comment on what is speaking the truth in love to you…
ac
