Speaking the Truth in Love - Keep It Short

Do you struggle with speaking the truth in love in your relationships? If you answered yes, then this biblical truth and tip will help you. One of the mistakes we make is that we get caught up in the desire to convince the other person that we are right and as a result, we use too many words. When speaking the truth in a relationship, it isn't our responsibility to convince, only to speak our truth.

Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver" (NIV). Rather than using lectures and long explanations to express our thoughts, short and careful sentences can be more impacting and powerful. People often tune us out when we try to explain and justify and explain and justify and explain and justify. Get the point? The problem is that we believe it is our job to convince the person that we are right, so we just keep on talking.

Twelve Step Recovery programs use the saying, "Keep it to ten words or less." This may sound a bit extreme, but like all sayings, it is the message that matters. What it means is to keep it as short as is possible. Proverbs 10:19 goes so far as to say, "When words are many, sin is not absent" (NIV). Difficult relationships are intense, reactive, and emotional. When we argue, lecture, explain, blame, complain, and nag, we say things we don't mean. The best way to prevent ourselves from regretting what we are saying is to not say it. By telling yourself you have to keep it as short as possible, you will pre-plan what you say and be aware of not getting sucked into an argument. The only way you can make sure this doesn't happen is to be very intentional in your comments.

When speaking the truth in love, purposefully keep it as short as possible.