A Day of Difficult Conversations

 Someone called me earlier today and asked how I was doing. I commented, "I've been better." They thought I said, "I'm better." It has been a day of difficult conversations. Counseling. Listening to confessions. Mediating between conflicting parties. A difficult day with difficult communication. 

Many people shy away from difficult conversations. They let conflict build. They try to sweep secrets under the rug. Confessions are concealed. Truth telling is avoided because it leads to more difficult conversations. Heads are buried in the sand. Resolution and reconciliation are avoided. 

I will admit that difficult conversations are uncomfortable. That does not mean that they are not needed. Loving confrontation and biblical counsel are not always easy. They are often hard. The truth is hard to hear. In a world of chaos and misunderstandings, bitterness and unforgiveness, petty strifes and contentions these hard conservations are necessary. 

Matthew 18:15-17 are hard conversations. So is James 5:19-20. These are difficult conversations. Some will go to great lengths to avoid these at all costs. This is true of Christian people and unbelievers. People are two faced. Fake. Back stabbers not committed to truth telling face to face. 

I did not wake up looking for difficult conversations today. That was the day of ministry God sent my way. I neither sought it nor avoided it. When called for I looked people in the eye and spoke biblical truth. Some responded. Others did not like it so much. I saw tears on three different occasions. One from a lady and two from a couple of different men facing different issues. 

Difficult conversations can still be infused with love and grace. Jesus had difficult conversations and yet nobody loved people more and extended more grace than He did and still does. 

Satan, the Father of Lies, loves to steal, kill, and destroy. I see his handiwork in people all over the place. He tempts to sin, he ensnares people in bodegas, he disrupts harmony, and he is adversarial toward repentance and reconciliation. I hate him. Opposing his work is a never ending battle. He never quits. He relentlessly works to destroy the work of God among us. We must be equally relentless in opposing him. From time to time that is going to necessitate some difficult conversations. They are not often pleasant but they are vitally important to God's work in and around us. 

Will you courageously enter into difficult conversations the next time they are needed? Will you bravely speak the truth or cowardly avoid truth to keep surface level peace? Surface peace rarely lasts. It seldom leads to true reconciliation. People need to be reconciled to God and to one another. I hope you will commit your self to speaking truth in love when called to do so. I hope you will not shun the day of difficult conversations.