Tuning Our Tone

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." 1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV)

If we hope to love others by speaking truth into their lives, we better ask the Holy Spirit to help us tune our tone.

I left a somewhat critical comment on someone else's blog recently, because I thought that the blogger was being excessively rough in "sharpening" his Internet congregration. The author criticized those who spend too much time praying for the healing of others (e.g. "for Aunt Bessie's trick knee"). The blogger characterized such believers as "whine-os." Then he wrote, "How shallow! How sad! How extremely myopic, pathetic, and poverty stricken are your supplications!"

Hmmmm. That just struck me the wrong way, and I said so. My comment set off an exchange of comments with the author that were less than edifying. In his defense, the blogger wrote, "Look at the words of Jesus on discipleship and His were far tougher than mine."

The issue is tone. True, Jesus sometimes let his listeners have it, particularly when they were hypocrits. Like this zinger: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean" (Matt. 23:27)(NIV). All I can say is, "Wow!"

But that's not how Jesus usually addressed people about their sin. If He had, they would have run away from Him, rather than flocked toward Him. Jesus' words, His tone, and no-doubt His body language, communicated His love for His listeners. And His love made it possible for them to hear the truth of His words. I think it can be said that the louder we speak, the less others usually hear. The clanging cymbals of our words make others want to cover their ears.

If we want to speak truth into the lives of others, we have to tune our tone to the music of the love of Christ. With the Holy Spirit's help, we can speak the truth in love, as Christ intends.