This week’s promotional discount is on my 2003 book Daily Prayer, the most popular of my many publications, slightly ahead of No Ordinary Man and Prayers for All Seasons.
Normally retailing at £14.99 (or £12.99 for the pocket edition), this week, until 20 September, you can purchase it at a 10 per cent discount – a saving of £1.50 – using the code DAILY10 when ordering the book from the Kevin Mayhew website. Just type the code into the relevant box at the checkout between the dates given.
Meanwhile, here’s the fifth of seven sessions I’ll be posting this week from the book, to run alongside this promotion. This one explores the importance of speaking the truth in love, and, equally, of being will to hear that truth spoken:
Cruel to be kind
Read
Well intended are the wounds inflicted by a friend, but effusive are the kisses of an enemy. Proverbs 27:6
Ponder
‘Be truthful, now – what do you think?’ How many times have you been asked a question like that? And the chances are, when it came, your heart sank, for you knew full well that the judgement you were being asked to make would cause upset, if not outright offence. The truth can hurt. Few of us find it easy to be honest in awkward situations like those, and fewer still relish having the truth spoken to them.
Yet sometimes we need people with the courage to do just that if we are to see ourselves as we really are and so find the spur we need to rectify our faults. In the words of the Greek philosopher Socrates: ‘Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions, but those who kindly reprove thy faults.’ Have you the courage to speak the painful truth to others? More important still, are you willing to hear it spoken to you in turn?
Ask yourself
Are you open to criticism, or do you automatically attempt to defend yourself rather than contemplate unpleasant truths?
Pray
God of truth, you know me better than I know myself. You search my heart and mind, seeing me as I really am and confronting me with my true self. Forgive me that all too often I shy away from what is hard to accept, refusing to countenance anything that contradicts my self-image. I find it so difficult to be honest, closing my ears to truths I would rather not hear. I avoid those who challenge and disturb me, preferring instead those who soothe and flatter my ego. Thank you for all those with the rare gift of speaking the truth in love; not spitefully, vindictively, or harshly, nor from any ulterior motives, but because they genuinely care. Thank you for those who are willing to risk my resentment, retaliation or rejection, in order to help me grow as an individual. God of all, give me true humility and meekness of spirit, so that I may be ready to listen and examine myself, ready to ask searching questions about who I am and to change where necessary, ready to face the truth. Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
Remember
Whoever takes note of good advice is on the path to life, but those who reject a rebuke go astray. Those who ignore good advice despise themselves, but those who heed reproof grow in understanding. Proverbs 10:17; 15:32
Close
Gracious God, help me to open my life to your searching gaze and so open my heart to your redeeming love. Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.