A while ago in a local conversation a student raised a question: How can I tell someone else they are wrong? Isn't that judgmental? Isn't that a bad thing to do?
Can you really love someone and tell them that they are wrong, that they are sinning?
The person on this earth whom I love and trust more than any other has a unique commission from God. It is the prophetic commission to speak into my life and tell me (among other things) when I am wrong. I am referring to none other than AKW, my long-suffering wife, companion and fellow disciple of these many years.
There is a marvelous thing at work here. Because she loves me, she needs to tell me when I am wrong - when I am doing, thinking, saying in a way that makes me less than what God wants me to be. It is part of the mutual stewardship of lives that is Christian marriage. Not only does she have my permission to do these things - she needs to do these things for my sake.
In our deepest relationships, we are free to be told where we fall short. That is because we know that we are loved and valued. We know that the other is there as a fellow traveler. It is within the safety net of love that we can face the truth of our failings, and be caught in our fallings.
Without love, truth-telling about sin becomes despair. With love, truth telling about sin becomes hope.
Great word Joseph! Proverbs says that open rebuke is better than hidden love. As you have already demonstrated, one prerequisite to this is that we are in relationship with those whom we rebuke or admonish. Part of the problem the Church has brought upon itself, results from rebuking or admonsihing those with whom it has no relationship with.
Posted by: Flambero | March 29, 2005 at 11:02 PM