Speaking The Truth In Love

Ephesians 4:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ

God wants us to grow up in all things concerning Him, and there is a way that He has ordained for this to take place. If we look at this section of Scripture, we see that Paul is talking about growth within the body of Christ and how that happens. Growing is really not an option, anything else is stagnation. Stagnation is not something I want for my life, and I believe most people if asked, would honestly say that they don’t want it for their life either. However, many have found themselves in this place not really knowing how they got there or how to get out, yet they have a deep desire to do more for the kingdom of God.

If you have a hunger for more, and want to be all that God has called you to be, then lets look to the Word of God to see some of the necessary steps that God has ordained for all of us to take in order to fulfilling that calling.

Let’s read this whole section of Scripture starting with vs. 11.

Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

12. for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

13. till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

14. that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive,

15. but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ

16. from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

This is a blueprint or template for growth that I believe is ignored by many Christians. Not necessarily because they are wanting to be disobedient, but because they haven’t seen the profound importance of what is being said. We all have to start somewhere, so lets start where we are now, and begin to grow in God through Christ as He has ordained.

We can only walk in the light that we have but as we just read we are being told to speak the truth in love so that we can grow. Truth is more than just an attribute of God but a great part of Who and what He is. Jesus called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. (John 14:17)

Truth is absolute and unchangeable. Receiving truth is what allows us to come to a place of freedom, but before we can walk in that freedom we have to receive it. God has set up the body in such a way that we are to build up one another by speaking truth in love. Growth has been ordained by this method, and this is how we are supposed to function.

In order to speak the truth in love to others to build them up, we have to have first received truth ourselves. The more we receive the more we can help others. After all, the ultimate goal is to help people isn’t it? We each have our own special gifts and purpose within the body of Christ, don’t we? What we share with others is not necessarily going to be what others are sharing. However, every part is vital to growth. As you help others to succeed, you yourself help the body. Helping others in essential to the health of the whole body which in turn is helping yourself as well. It should be our goal to grow and help others grow. Every part does its share in supplying, which in turn causes the whole body to grow.

We are all in this together, so the one whom we effect could be the one who will eventually effect us. You can see how this can have a domino effect that continues on to others. Whether others are healthy or not will eventually in turn effect you and so on. Let’s always be mindful of others. I would like to say that this kind of growth is not all about numbers, although that can be a part of it. The growth I’m talking about is growing up in all things unto Him. Let’s remember, this is the main thing.