It is September 23, 2018, day three. I am writing a bit each day about my thoughts, motivations, ideas and dreams. Today, I was at a worship gathering in San Diego. I remember a bit about what Evan was teaching, but a totally separate thought came into my head as he was teaching. The phrase that came to my mind was this, speak boldly and with great love.
So many times we are bashful or fearful of speaking boldly. We see an injustice and we just walk away, complaining to ourselves or to others about how bad it is, but not really doing anything to bring justice. We are afraid of what people might think of us if we speak out, or we may even doubt or own feelings or thoughts regarding the injustice we see. This is why speaking boldly is so important. When you see someone bullying others, speak boldly against it. When you see people who are treated unjustly, speak out boldly for them, be they advocate. When you feel wronged, speak boldly on behalf of yourself.
Speaking boldly is not enough though, it is only half of it. We need to speak boldly with great love. We need to speak out against injustice, but we shouldn’t be speaking without love, love of the person suffering under the injustice, but also, and even more difficult, is having great love for the perpetrator of the injustice. This is true even when we are speaking boldly on behalf of yourself. We must speak boldly with great love, even towards the person who is wronging us. Healing and restoration needs to happen in they lives too.
Disclaimer- I don’t feel wronged by anyone right now, thats not why Im posting this. I’m posting because I believe it is right for everyone, in all circumstances. When we speak out boldly and with great love the world goes through healing, and restoration. We don’t need anymore bold speaking haters, or passive lovers, we need people speaking out truth with great love. I pray that my life reflects this from now on. It is easy for me to be passive and even passive aggressive towards things, for fear of offending people, but if I speak boldly and with love then healing and peace can happen and wrongs will be made right.
The above image is a book from my friends Jon, about peacemaking. Mending the Divides means speaking boldly, with great love on behalf of others. Order it here.
