It’s scary to speak the truth in love. The reason why we stuff our feelings and hide the issues in our relationships is because we fear the possible consequences. We let fear become greater than our love. Speaking the truth in love means taking a great risk! And because we don’t want to take that risk, we settle for superficial, shallow relationships.

My wife, Kay, and I were pros at this early in our marriage. We repressed the truth, we hid our feelings, and we ignored issues. We swept everything under the carpet to try to maintain the status quo of our marriage. We’d sweep it under the carpet and sweep it under the carpet, and that mound under the carpet kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger until one day it went kaboom!

You must be willing to risk rejection because you love that person. You must be willing to absorb the initial anger of a loving confrontation because you love that person. It takes enormous courage.

Some of you have not felt loving toward a loved one for weeks or months or maybe even years because you’ve been stuffing your feelings down. You’re not speaking the truth in love, and it’s killing the relationship.

Who do you need to have an honest conversation with? Who do you need to speak the truth in love to? Somebody in your neighborhood? Somebody in your small group? Do you see a teenager heading in the wrong direction, getting involved in things they have no business getting involved in? Will you care enough to speak the truth in love?