Truth That Wounds

Chuckle: "Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them."

Quote: "A truth that's told with bad intent Beats all the lies you can invent." --William Blake

"Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34 NIV).

Careless and malicious use of the truth can be as devastating to others and to our reputation and witness as outright and intentional dishonesty, not to mention what it does to our spiritual life. Truth can be used as a weapon to hurt someone, and simply because something is true does not mean it should be revealed. Unnecessarily repeating a hurtful truth about someone can destroy their faith in people and cause them to withdraw from the church fellowship.

In our passage, Jesus says that the words we use reveal the condition of our hearts, which is His primary concern. He is interested in what we say and do, but is more interested in the motives behind them. Before we say anything about someone, we should ask ourselves: Will my saying this be pleasing to God, and does it show love and kindness?

From time to time, I have come across Christians who seem to get some sort of perverse pleasure from telling something negative about another person that, although true, can cause terrible pain. Let's think about some ways that Satan can tempt us to misuse the truth in hurtful ways.

A friend may tell you something about himself in confidence, but you find the temptation to share this information with some one else irresistible. You have violated the confidence of a friend and used a truth to destroy a relationship, perhaps for ever.

You may have witnessed the stumbling of a fellow Christian who has fallen into sin. As a fellow believer, what should be your attitude toward that person? As Jesus modeled forgiveness, kindness, and redemption for the woman caught in adultery, we should love and pray for that person and seek to help him/her repent of their sin and return to a Godly lifestyle. We should never shoot our wounded, but help them to heal.

Perhaps you pride yourself in "telling it like it is." But, there's a huge difference in telling it like it is and being pure, holy, and edifying in our speech. Sometimes telling it like it is may not please God. We don't have to share that juicy morsel of gossip just because it turns out to be fact. Our words reveal who we really are deep down in our hearts. If we walk close to Christ, wholesome speech will be the fruit of that relationship. Words of kindness and hurtful words should never come from the same mouth. An untamed tongues reveals an impure heart.

The heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. Let's pray that God will give us hearts and minds modeled after Jesus and make a commitment to never use the truth to damage someone ever again. Being careful about what we say and how we say it is a sign of Christian maturity. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Ephesians 4:29 NIV).

Love, Jerry & Dotse