Going PlacesSample

It's hard to know what to do when you see a friend making serious mistakes. You want to help get them back on the right path, but you don't want to hurt their feelings.

Sometimes, when a good friend starts making some questionable choices in life, we decide to just not challenge them at all. We don't want to offend them or drive a wedge in our friendship. We don't know how to bring it up, so we just don't say anything. Besides, Christians are supposed to be loving, right?

Being "loving" doesn't mean ignoring your friends when they start making bad decisions. In fact, challenging your friends and encouraging them to make better choices is one of the most loving things you can do.

In his letter to the Early Church in Ephesus, Paul calls this speaking the truth in love. A lot of times, we think we can only do one or the other — speak truth or be loving. We think we either need to tell our friends uncomfortable truths, or we love our friends by not speaking up when they are heading in a destructive direction.

This doesn't have to be an either / or situation. God says that we can speak the truth and be loving. When our friends are making choices that aren't healthy for themselves or others, we can be both honest and kind in how we talk to them. It's not easy to speak the truth in love, but good friends care enough about their friends to say something. A real friend will speak the truth in love.