Speak the Truth in LOVE!

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:12

After two weeks of an amazing vacation in Turkiye and Greece (the first two week vacation in 20 years) I came back to Columbus exhausted physically, yet restored spiritually and emotionally.  Within a few days of our return, Charlie Kirk was assassinated, there was a school shooting in Colorado where the shooter had become extremized on-line, and the remembrance of 9/11.  The following week was filled with blame, name-calling, a murder in our town, 5 police officers shot in Pennsylvania (3 died), and numerous other heart breaking stories of loss and hate.

I hurt for those affected by the evil and violence in the world.  I hurt for our country as the divide becomes greater and greater.  And I hurt for humanity, for we have forgotten what it means to be human and the importance of life.

God created us in His own image, fashioning us out of the dust of the ground and breathing His Spirit into us.  Even when mankind sinned, God responded with a promise of deliverance from the result of sin.  And He kept his promise by sending His Son, Jesus, because He loved the world - all people.  And He desires ALL people to believe in Jesus and live.

I encourage and exhort each of us to look at people the way our God looks at them: as sinners needing forgiveness.  Look beyond their words and their actions to a person that is loved by God needing His grace.  As Paul writes in Ephesians 6, our struggle is not against other people, but the evil one leading them with his lies and hatred and violence.  

Yes, it is important for us to continue to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:5).  Sometimes we forget the love part.  We are to speak the truth not out of the need to be right, but because of our love for the other person, and that love should be evident in the words we speak and how we speak them.

As Christians, we are set apart from the world by our love for our Savior and by our love for others.  Yet we live in this world as witnesses of His love for us and for all.  May our words be words of truth in LOVE to all people at all times.

In His Peace,
Pastor Cory

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