Kindness and Truth

This morning in my reading time Proverbs 3:3 struck me as at no other reading of this Scripture. "Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart."

The pairing of kindness and truth is interesting to me. Most of us have heard the movie quote, "You can't handle the truth!" Because this has become ingrained in our culture as a real thing, a lot of us skirt around the truth when it comes to responding to friends and family. We do it to be kind. (at least that is my motivation most of the time)

Truthfulness, at times, can seem confrontational. I suppose it depends on the delivery of the person presenting the truth. That is where kindness comes in. Truthfulness paired with kindness is like 'a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.' At least that is how I see it.

All in all, the truth is the truth. There are certain truths in Scripture that seem harsh, but are they harsh? Our Lord said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." He was God in flesh, God with us. showing us the Father.

He was kind, yet He was no pushover. He stood for every Word that proceeded from the mouth of God. He didn't water down what God had said. Sin was still sin. A sacrifice still had to be made. Jesus became that Sacrifice for us so that we could know God. He didn't call evil, good. He spoke the truth even though it would hurt people's feelings.

Is it difficult to speak the truth with kindness? Yep, at times it is. Frustration plays a part in the delivery of truth, but we must remember to love the misguided even though we hate the sin. We must check our motives and be sure that we are doing the Lord's bidding and not arguing for the sake of arguing. It is a tightrope walk for sure. I believe that if people see us as kind, their ears will be apt to listen to what we say.

Binding kindness and truth around your neck...to me seems to be something that should stand out. Otherwise, we'd bind them around our ankles. These attributes should be obvious to those coming in contact with us. I personally know quite a few people who are like this and am glad to call them friends and family.