How often are we content to have purity in sight (we dare not say we love it), to understand something of righteousness, to possess a sterile, academic knowledge of the needs of the circumstance; all the while functioning with NOTHING of grace, nothing of mercy, nothing of compassion, especially in our speaking. We value plain speech, we value those who are good at the quick witted jab, we value the idea that we are good at "telling it like it is". All too often, these things are simply the actions of a brute. All too often the only righteousness in view is self-righteousness. It becomes nothing but a vindication of our desires, an enabling of our basest intentions; it is merely a justification for our sin. We must remember the admonition of Paul; "speaking the truth in love, may (we) grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—". God forgive our arrogance, God forgive our callous nature, God forgive our failure to understand and remember that we are just as flawed, just as broken, just as SINFUL as whoever we are speaking to. What we need is awareness of the reality of just how detestable we all are in comparrison to the Christ who bought us. What we need is for the reality of the cross to be brought home to every one of us. It is the cross that makes us accepted in the beloved, it is NOT some intrinsic worth in us. It is NOT some wonderful aspect of our character that God just HAD to reward, but it is this simple fact. Jesus Christ died to redeem sinners of whom I am chief... with that truth firmly etched into our souls we canot help but have a measure of grace for the one with whom we are speaking, we cannot help but extend the mercy we ourselves have received. With that truth firmly etched into our souls, we MUST be clarified in our thinking, sanctified in our affect and compassionate in our dealings with others. May God be gracious to us all to show us our sin before we brutalize another over the very thing of which we are guilty!