Mom: The Loving Truth Teller

Telling the truth can, and is, costly. However, we cannot afford to not tell the truth in love because such truth-telling allows the Lord to work in us so that we be changed in the way that He desires us to be changed.

(Slide 13) So What?

Our main text speaks of wise minds and wise speech. A wise person, and the Bible, I believe, tells us that wisdom is essential characteristic of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Now I would remind us that the wisdom that is mentioned in Proverbs has more to do with our character than being a ‘smart’ person who has lots of knowledge. Truth is a part of this kind of character.

Wise people also develop a significant level of trust through their truth telling not just verbally but as they live. They are able to build trust. Truth and trust feed off one another and without trust, our relationships suffer.

Tom Holladay says, ‘truth without love doesn’t work. Love without truth is equally disastrous.’

What is required, Holladay points out, is honesty. Honesty and truth go together. They are like two sides of the same coin.

Honesty makes truth possible because speaking the truth in love is honesty!

This brings me to our assignment for this week. It is a question asked by Tom Holladay.

(Slide 14) Is there someone with whom I need to take the risk of an honest conversation?

Is it a son or a daughter? Is it a spouse or friend? Is it a co-worker? Is it parent? Is it yourself?

Remember the guidelines earlier and prayerfully, prayerfully lay out a course of action. Ask God to prepare you for the conversation. Ask God to prepare the other person(s) for the conversation.

We cannot live without truth. Neither can we live with lies.

Let us determine to tell the truth, in the right way, at the right time, and to the right person… because we do so out of a heart of love and not fear.

And, as a reminder, of truth telling, I finally conclude with this musical reminder of the truth telling mom’s do everyday.

(Slide 15) The Mom Song Video… (can be seen on youtube.com)

AMEN!

(Sources: 1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking by Michael Hodgin; Ginsburg, Maxell quotes are from ‘Quotationary’ by Leonard Roy Frank. Holladay quote and queston is from his book The Relationship Principles of Jesus.