April 16, 2016

Speak Truth

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. -- Colossians 4:6

It was a comment meant to praise and encourage. “You’re a good mother.” It sounded, well, good. Except the young girl accepting the praise isn’t a good mother.

I stayed silent. I’ve learned to do that sometimes. (Other times I wish I’d learned to stay silent.) But it really bothered me. The young mother loves her baby. It’s not that. It’s just that she refuses to take responsibility for the day to day care giving an infant requires.

Happy photo ops are not the norm. They are the show. The responsibility -- the dirty diapers, the waking up in the middle of the night, the expenses -- are all shouldered by her parents. She not only doesn’t appreciate all they give, she resents them.

Surely, the person making the comment knew that. Didn’t she? Or was she only seeing what she wants to see? Sometimes we turn a blind eye to something that makes us uncomfortable. Sometimes we refuse to see what is right in front of us.

I am not the most diplomatic person. I am outspoken and sometimes I put way too much salt in my words. I’m trying to learn that just a little salt goes a long way when I’m speaking truth that is difficult to hear.

But I’m also learning more and more not to be silent. I was a silent victim for too long, always being cautioned to “not say anything” in order to keep the peace. It didn’t work. Volcanoes can only be contained for so long before they erupt into a fiery disaster. I wonder sometimes if the eruption would have changed in magnitude had I refused to stay silent. I’ll never know.

I do know that we sometimes avoid people who speak truth over our lives. We don’t want to hear it. We don’t want to face whatever it is we need to face. We don’t want to accept that maybe, just maybe, the words were sent from God Himself to speak truth. Like the prophet Nathan speaking truth over King David.

As Christians, we’re to weigh our words carefully. The tongue has such power to wound. We’re to let caution still our anger before we lash out with words that can never be unsaid.

But we’re also to speak truth, seasoned with salt. Build people up, yes, but do it in truth. Lies don’t benefit anyone. Neither does silence when it’s done for all the wrong reasons.