Ephesians Devotionals
Bob Morris
Truth and Love (Ephesians 4:15)
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ.
The keys to growing in Christ
Instead of being childishly vulnerable to every wild philosophy or false religion out there, we are to grow up by speaking God’s truth to each other. Truth can be wielded like a rapier, injuring everyone in its path, or it can be mistaken for a sentimentality that forbids the saying of anything that might be hurtful. Speaking the truth in love does neither.
The key here is speaking the truth in love. The love spoken of here is agape – that uniquely self-sacrificing love shown to us by God in Christ Jesus. William Barclay tells us that all Greek words for love (other than agape) have to do with the heart and emotions. Those kinds of love are spontaneous, whether it is falling into romantic live or the familial love of blood relations. In contrast, agape has to do with the mind and will. Barclay directs us to Matthew 5: 43-48 to get a measure of this love. There Jesus tells us to love our enemies. Why? In order that we should be like God who, “no matter what a man is like, God seeks nothing but his highest good’. He sends sun and rain on the evil and the good. As God’s children, we seek others’ good, no matter how much we might be insulted, reviled or abused by them.
Speaking the truth in agape means never seeking revenge or unnecessarily hurting others. I will say only those things which are for their benefit. Sometimes that will mean saying something that stings. At other times it means confronting the abusers. But always it means doing so without bitterness or hate and seeking only their best. In the context of an international and intercultural church, we must be all the more sensitive to how truth can be expressed in a loving way. It may mean speaking indirectly, or by story (as Nathan did with David), or even through a third party. Learning to speak the truth in culturally appropriate ways is part of doing it lovingly.
Abraham Lincoln was accused of treating his opponents with too much courtesy and kindness. When it was pointed out that his whole duty was to destroy them, he answered, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
Speaking the truth does not just mean being honest, frank and transparent. It means bringing God’s word into other people’s lives. Jesus did that by becoming human and living with us (John 1: 14). In a similar way, we must “embody” God’s word if it is to have any real relevance to our brothers and sisters. First we become truth and then we convey it. In fact, the word “speaking” is not in the text. Literally, as John Stott puts it, it is “truthing in love” and includes maintaining, living and doing the truth.
As Jesus said, the truth makes us free, and this is no less true when we speak it to each other. We must encourage, rebuke, exhort, and correct each other, but always in love. Christians who are told only what they want to hear or what makes them feel good, will never grow up spiritually. Be thankful for any friend whom you can count on to tell you like it is, without fear of a broken relationship. In fact, because there is one body and one Spirit (4: 4), we should be able to freely speak and hear the truth without fearing fractured relationships.
The whole purpose of speaking the truth in love is that together we become like Jesus, which we will look at next.
Lord Jesus, we long to be like you in every way. Grant that we become instruments of your truth and love in the lives of our brothers and sisters so that together we can grow up into you.
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