Ephesians 4:11-16

Ephesians 4:11-16
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Speaking the truth in love is hard.
  It's easier to speak the truth without love, to say what is true without regard to how it may impact the other person, focusing only on what you have to say, not how you say it or how it is heard.  We all have our own opinions on others' lives -- to share them openly without caring for the other isn't that hard.
  It's also easy to love without speaking the truth.  It's easier to care for someone and agree with their choices and offer them support without ever confronting difficult things in their lives or in your relationship. It's easy to put it off for another day, to delay any reckoning, because there's always going to be a better time, right?
  To balance the two is immensely challenging, but that is what we are called to do-- to be a people who care enough about others to speak the truth to them, but to balance those words with a deep love for the other, so that we communicate with our words and actions our selfless love.  It's easier to do one without the other, but to combine the two is the Christ-like way.