Be Still And Know

Ephesians 4:15 NLT 'Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.' Speaking the truth can prove daunting. It’s often easier to modify what we say to save ourselves and others embarrassment. Working as I’ve done for many years with people from diverse international backgrounds, I’ve discovered a lot about how we Brits are perceived. With all our courteous language, our ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous’, we are often seen as difficult to understand. Remember the old Western movies where the phrase, ‘White man speaks with forked tongue’ would occur? That’s how we are often understood by others who tend to be more direct in their speech. At the same time, I do not want to use the truth to cause someone else to lose face and feel awkward. I want them to benefit from what I am saying, and they can’t do that if in some way I shame them or subsequently it is clear I was economical with the truth I shared with them. Jesus is always straightf