The words we speak in truth should always reflect the love and grace of Jesus.   #theloriclineshow   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   Is it easy for you to ‘speak to it’? For some of you ‘high justice’ people, I know it is! You see someone doing something that isn’t right, someone’s misbehaving or someone’s stepping out of line… you gotta speak to it!  As believers, we are called to “speak to it”, IN LOVE, when we see a brother or sister putting back on the ways of the ‘old man’ they used to be. We should be walking daily in the newness of life that Christ has put on us and in doing so, our walk and talk should imitate that of Christ. HE is our standard. So, when any one part of the body begins to break down or not live or walk in the way they should go, we’re called to speak to it and remind one another WHO WE ARE in Christ and who we SHOULD NOT be. The Bible speaks truth to EVERYTHING in our life. Got questions? It’s FULL of answers. Don’t take my word for it, dig into it for yourself. But you must be ready to take yourself off the throne and put God back on it. When you do that, the words in these pages satisfy your soul like nothing else can and your path is made clear.  We’re focusing this week on the words of Paul in Ephesians chapter four. Paul is speaking to the way the church is acting. The believers were ‘grieving the spirit’ in how they were treating one another, how there were living and speaking. Paul loved them so much, he had to speak to it. Ephesians 4:29-32 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Think about your words. Does the way you talk reflect the love and grace of Jesus? Do you tear others down way more than you build them up, all under the guise of sarcasm? We’re wounding our own body when we hurt those we should be loving.  Do you hold bitterness in your heart for a brother or sister? Drop all the surface things you may disagree on and let’s get back to the heart. Paul doesn’t tip toe around anything. Get RID of ALL bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. This is speaking directly to the heart of believers who should know better. You may not actually go rage out and ACT on what your feeling, because that could land you in jail, but the INTENT is just the same. Consider this the next time you become outraged on social media over differing opinions. Consider this when you feel misunderstood. Do your words do more harm than good? Build UP more than you tear down.  Paul wraps up his loving rebuke with grace. Be kind. Be compassionate. Extend forgiveness and grace because of the undeserved grace God extends to us through Christ.  Friends we forget our own desperate need for grace and stand in judgment too easily. We get angry, we hold bitterness in our heart, we focus more on things of this world and the way we talk and act looks nothing like Jesus. We grieve His spirit in us and have forgotten where we once were. God forgive us.  A preacher friend put it this way - when you remember the grace that you’ve come from, you walk and talk into who you’re CALLED to be.  That’s the truth.  May our hearts be open to hear so we live reflecting more of Jesus to the world around us. That’s our mission and we should love one another enough to speak to it, in LOVE, extending grace, as the Lord leads us all.    I’m Lori Cline.