Tuesday 2nd May, 2023
Love delights in the truth
But that doesn’t mean you get to hurt people by sharing your unsolicited opinions and then claiming “I’m just speaking the truth in love” ….. Because this verse does not stand in isolation from the rest of the passage, if love is kind and humble, if love is not rude, then “love delights in the truth” cannot mean “feel free to just say what you believe to be the truth to people no matter how blunt or hurtful.” Love delights in the truth and love also cares about other people’s feelings.
In some versions it says “love rejoices in the flowering of the truth.” Truth flowers, not stings, flowers. “Truth hurts!” is not a biblical phrase, love delights in the truth and love does not hurt.
As I write this I’m looking out of my window at my tulips. I’ve been watching them flower the last couple of weeks, slowly growing, the bud brightening into petals and opening, blooming into a thing of beauty. I’ve watched that happen to countless women once they’ve spoken the truth about the abuse they’ve endured, once they’ve given it to God and stepped into the light of God’s truth. Once I learned the truth, that I was God’s daughter, that God delights over me, is proud of me, that I am worthy of love, that I deserve love and respect, that God does not want me to be abused, that I am supposed to reflect the image of the divine, using all the gifts and talents I’ve been given, that who I am is good, I was able to blossom. Like the tiny bud growing bigger, changing from green to brilliant hues of pink and yellow, slowly opening, becoming everything it was created to be. That’s what the truth does in people’s lives, it flowers and it causes them to flower. Truth flowers and love rejoices in that flowering.
