The motto of the Wickliffe preachers was 'Speaking the truth in love' (Ephesians 4:15)
This was the text taken as the theme of my Dad's thanksgiving service. It's appropriateness was not simply that of the motto itself, it was that he lived out this text. My Dad's gift to all who knew him was to demonstrate that Love does not have to be diminished by standing for the Truth and that the Truth does not have to be compromised by living a gracious life of Love, including (perhaps especially) in our speaking.
This is a combination that seems to elude almost everyone, including very many followers of Christ (who alone is the Truth and the greatest expression of Love). And the first place it eludes people is in their speaking by which the Truth is doubted or denied or it is asserted without the kind of gracious humility that Love demands.
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