Welcome back. Everyone here to join in five minutes of Faith. I'm Brent Ho, grateful to be here. today's topic is speaking. Truthfully, not just being hard in the truth, but also being loving in how we speak to others.

I can say a lot of true things, but I can be pretty abrasive and harsh if I'm doing nothing but being truthful and can damage a relationship. at the same time, I don't want to overlook truth and just think about love, love, love, love, love, and just sugarcoat things and not have to deal with the hard issue at point.

But in a continuation from last episode of considering it's going from something from the mind, from a thought, a heart condition, and now we're actually going to put it into practice. How do we speak to one another in love? Now, I'm sure you've probably asked a question at the station or at home or with family or someone [00:01:00] that you know that something is off.

there is a little bit of friction. a little bit of contention, So you may ask the question

 Hey, how's it going today? And they kind of go, oh, fine. And just by the body language alone, you're like, all right, something is not right. So if you are the individual that someone's asking how, how you are, and you say, fine. I'm all right. it's, it's, it's okay. Are you really being truthful in how you're responding to the individual?

rather than saying, fine, a simple answer could be like, it's a tough day. I'm gonna bear with it. maybe we can talk later. That allows for opportunity for.

Thoughts to come into better clarity for words to actually happen, and me as the receiving individual of someone saying fine to me. It might give me an opportunity to think of ways in which I might be able to think of how I've had difficult times in my life and how I might be able to apply [00:02:00] it.By being there as a friend and as a brother and a listening ear, by listening to just how they might be hurting, I might be able to empathize with them. I might be able to sympathize with them and show compassion. So we wanna make sure that we're honest. We wanna make sure that we're ready to respond, and we wanna make sure that we're ready to listen,

Now, it can be with your spouse, could be with a parent, probably somebody that's at the station or someone from another shift.

 by listening to one another and to speak truthfully in love to one another can really help mend a relationship or. Cause a relationship to grow past something that you never really thought was going to occur in in the past.

 So how do we put this stuff into practice? let's look into what Paul says. Speak the truth in love, in speaking, the truth in love.

We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into [00:03:00] Christ.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. and the previous verses from 17 to 27.

Talk about all of the futility that's in our mind, all of the callousness, all the hardness and heart, all of the corruptness in ways that we used to walk, Now putting that away, speak the truth and love, and continuing in toward the end of the chapter. It builds on, let no longer the thief be amongst you and steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work.

Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth. Verse 29, verse 30, do not grieve. Verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. I mean, just think about those. Few adjectives [00:04:00] in how we can be so hurtful to those around us. I can be bitter.

I can harbor something. I'm good at harboring stuff in my heart. I know that I am. I'm good at being angry. Ask my wife, ask my kids. I am pretty good at being angry. I can be slanderous. I can say things that I really don't mean, and I'm supposed to put that all away. And why? Finishing up in verse 32, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.

speak the truth. But do it in love. when we do that, it's going to mend hurtful things that have happened in your life and other people's lives, and bring us closer together as we walk out today, tomorrow, the rest of our lives as we speak truth in love to one another, praying for you all.

Hope that you have a good shift. Take care, and we'll see you next episode.