Speak the Truth in Love
It is inevitable that people are not going to agree on everything. Perspectives, values, and experiences all go into shaping our conclusions and all of these things may differ from person to person. This can be a very foreboding thought as our country and states are continuing to have to make major decisions in the weeks and months to come. This has always been the case, but now in the midst of crisis this is more heightened. So what chance do we have to work through these decisions? And what of those of us who are sitting on the sidelines and do not have the ability to pass major legislation or orders? We may be in for a tumultuous few weeks.
Add onto this the natural human condition of being self-oriented and the view looks even bleaker. What hope do we have to work through all this mess without ripping each other to threads, with our words or otherwise?
May I suggest the Scripture delivers the goods on this one! Peter writing to Christians who are going through difficulty reminds them of the wisdom of the Psalms when he says, “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Peter 3:10 quoting Psalm 34:12). How simple! If you want a good life just watch what you say and be sure that it is good and not evil, truth and not lies. No problem! Well, maybe not. If this was so simple I think my Facebook news feed would read differently. I think I’d see a lot less angry words. I think I’d see a lot less posts reminding people to fact check before they post. Now, lest I come off as self-righteous, I will admit that the “news feed” of my mind is filled with words. Words I choose not to post because they are not good. And the existence of those words in my mind speaks of a much deeper and more heinous problem: a heart problem. My words easily come from a place of pride, fear, and anger. Until these things are dealt with, simply controlling my tongue misses the point. For Jesus says, “for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45b). In light of this the natural becomes, what changes hearts?
Fortunately, Peter has already laid the foundation as to what can help us, or more accurately, who can help us. Earlier in his letter he encouraged us to “conduct yourselves with fear through the time of your exile” (1 Peter 1:17b). And this fear is not general; it is very specific. We will have a hard time conducting ourselves with fear until we fear the right thing. We are to fear God above all things. The first part of the above verse points us to our “Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds.” This means that our greatest preoccupation in all things is to be the perspective and judgment of God. Life gets out of whack when we seek to see things from any other perspective than God’s.
And the amazing thing is that this does not lead us to life of slavery, but to a life of freedom. Freedom from anger, bitterness, and needless fear. Christ is the proof of this. Notice what we learn about Him later in the letter: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). Christ is able to hold His tongue, but also keep His heart in check because His eyes were on the great and awesome Judge. His eyes were on His heavenly Father and He was willing to entrust Himself into the Father’s hands. This is the place of true peace. This is the place where our anxious and angry hearts can find rest.
God is a perfect judge, which is one of the major reasons we run from Him. He is not fooled by our self-righteous indignation against other people and their foolish. He knows with great clarity what is wrong with us too. He knows our sin and that makes resting in God’s hands seem so dangerous, if not impossible.
But God has changed all that. He sent Jesus and “he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). What better judge to entrust yourself to than the One who sees with perfect eyes every single thing that anyone has done wrong, but is willing to show mercy and grace. This truth can bring peace to our hearts, and give us the power and love to deal with our frantic and divided world. For if God can be entrusted with my soul, can He not be entrusted also with my earthly life?
And this trust affects how we speak. We no longer need to win the argument and save the world because we can rest in the confidence that we have favor and love of the everlasting God. We no longer need to order people around us to conform to our ideas, but to point them to the One who has the power and grace to help us. It does not mean that we should not speak. It means when we add our voices to the myriad other voices that are out there, they will be different in tone. They will be words of peace and love. And these sort of words will stand out. Our faith does not make us wall flowers. It makes us those who speak the truth in love.
Entrust yourself to the “Shepherd and oversee of your souls,” and He will redeem your voice.