Jon Walker says, \u2018It\u2019s hard to\u2026 confront\u2026 it\u2019s easier to stay superficial\u2026 to demonise one another when we don\u2019t agree.. .and to cut and run at the first sign of trouble\u2026 But the Bible says, \u201cAn honest answer is like a kiss of friendship,\u201d<\/i> (Proverbs\u00a024:26\u00a0NLT); it deepens relationships\u2026 and keeps our fellowship open and authentic, freeing us to speak the truth in love\u2026 No more lies or pretence. Tell your brother the truth. Remember\u2026 when you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.\u2019 <\/p>\n
Author Annette Smith observes, \u2018Touchy topics are difficult for even close friends. Yet relationships involve flawed people who make mistakes and get into messes. Friends need to be able to count on each other, not just for fun and affirmation, but for instruction and correction. Committing ourselves to a friendship means because we care on a deep intimate level, we have the courage to speak up when a friend needs to hear tough words\u2026 True friendship comes with joy and responsibility… To avoid talking truthfully about a situation that\u2019s hurtful, dangerous, or out of God\u2019s will, is to dishonour the friendship and the friend. When we\u2019ve been trusted with the blessing of friends, we must love them enough to be willing to experience hurt, rejection, even anger. In the end, truth heals. Before addressing a difficult situation, if there\u2019s any self-righteousness or the tiniest desire to get even, we should keep silent. Honesty\u2026 when it comes to touchy subjects must be accompanied by pure, loving motives.\u2019 <\/p>\n
The Bible says, \u2018Speak the truth in love\u2026 growing\u2026more like Christ.\u2019<\/i> If your words aren\u2019t bathed in love, they\u2019ll hurt rather than heal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jon Walker says, \u2018It\u2019s hard to\u2026 confront\u2026 it\u2019s easier to stay superficial\u2026 to demonise one another when we don\u2019t agree.. .and to cut and run at the first sign of trouble\u2026 But the Bible says, \u201cAn honest answer is like a kiss of friendship,\u201d (Proverbs\u00a024:26\u00a0NLT); it deepens relationships\u2026 and keeps our fellowship open and authentic, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}