truth

She stared at the ring on her left hand as tear pooled in her eyes. Doubt filled her heart, and I knew exactly how she felt.

That’s why I was there.

Her roommate had called me and asked me to come talk with her.

“I don’t know what to say to her, but you do. You’ve been in her shoes so maybe you can give her some advice.”

I had known this sweet girl for at least a year. Every week, she sat on the front row of my Sunday School class, and I’d grown to care deeply for her.

Slowly, she began telling me the details. Story after story emerged, and with each one her defenses dropped. The tears ran down her cheeks at breakneck speed, and there was no doubt her heart was torn.

I knew what she wanted. A loving husband, a family of her own. To be cherished and adored all the days of her life. The things I’d always wanted, and the things I now had. The things that appeared to be in her reach, or at least from the outside looking in.

“Oh, you guys can work it out. It’s just the stress. The stress of engagement and wedding planning and trying to mesh two lives into one. That’s what it is. But it’ll be fine.”

That’s what she wanted to hear, but I cared too much about her to say that. I told her the truth. That love is patient and kind, that it does not envy or boast. That it isn’t arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it’s own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it doesn’t rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with truth. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6)

I shared the truth. The decision was hers to make.

It’s easy to agree. It’s easy to tell someone what they want to hear. Avoid confrontation. Don’t upset them. But if you love someone, wouldn’t you want them to know the truth? Wouldn’t you want to save them from destruction? Wouldn’t you want to rescue them from a mistake?

“’If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

God’s word holds the truth we desperately need to hear. Truth that points us in the right direction. Truth that saves us from destruction. Truth that rescues us from mistakes.

The truth is for us to speak, the decision is for them to make.

So let us speak God’s truth in love.