March 27
Our tone and our speech make all the difference in the world. There’s a way in which you can correct someone that will cause them to be receptive and a way that will cause them to be defensive. We have to be careful in our speech because that alone can destroy relationships. There are ways in which we ought to correct our brothers and sisters in Christ. No matter what grave sin someone may have committed the truth must be presented to them in love. Similarly, the correction we give them must be given in love. Think about it on a personal level. Whenever you sin and God corrects you, you want it done in love and you want Him to show you mercy, so in that same light, you must do it for others. Just as Christ corrects us we must also correct people in complete love.
If we go into any situation with a judgmental mindset we have already defeated the purpose of correcting with love. Let us make sure that we approach every circumstance with love at the forefront of our minds. At times there will be a struggle between balancing how to speak the truth plainly and how to do so in love. When we find ourselves in that bind we ought to pray that God will help us with the right words at the right time and in the most loving way possible.
Remember your speech makes all the difference so even in your correction let love overflow. Let us do all we can to be like Christ, that way people will see us and give all glory, honor, and praise to His Holy name.
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
