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Let Grace Shape Your Words – Love Beyond Measure · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words from the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verses 25 through 32.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let all bitterness, wrath,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And be kind to one another,
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sooner or later, spiritual formation gets tested in a conversation.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It is one thing to feel peaceful when we are alone.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is another when someone misunderstands us,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: dismisses us, says something unfair, or touches a place that still hurts.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Paul has spent much of Ephesians describing what God is doing within us.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now he begins showing us what the inner work looks like
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: when another person is standing in front of us.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The small ruler says,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have to protect myself through forcefulness,
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: defensiveness, or controlling the conversation.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: That ruler can take over quickly.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Someone says something sharp,
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: and before we really have thought about it, we are building a case.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: We want to correct the record.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: We want the other person to understand exactly what they did.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we want them to feel some of what they made us feel.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Paul does not tell us that anger itself makes us unspiritual.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: He says, be angry and don't sin.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: There are things worth being angry about.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Harm matters.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Injustice matters.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Truth matters.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: The question is what begins driving us once the anger is there.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: If hurt is driving, I may say whatever helps me feel powerful again.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I may become defensive.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: If shame is driving, I may try to control how you see me.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Grace gives us another source of power.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: The spirit can become the motivating presence beneath the response.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: That may mean speaking clearly.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It may mean saying, that was not okay.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: It may mean setting a boundary or refusing to stay in a conversation
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: that has become destructive.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Grace does not require passivity.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: It does mean that I do not have to surrender who I am to the emotion of the moment.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says our words can give grace to those who hear them.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: I do not think that means every sentence has to sound gentle or carefully religious.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Some truthful words are direct.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some loving words are hard to hear.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: What matters is the source they come from.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Am I trying to diminish the other person or tell the truth?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Am I trying to win or make room for what is right?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Am I protecting my ego or protecting something that genuinely needs to be protected?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness works from that same settled place.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness does not say the harm was acceptable.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: It does not erase the consequences.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't require renewed access to someone who is unsafe.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: It means the injury no longer gets to keep deciding what happens within me.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I can release what I cannot repair into God's hands and refuse
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: to let bitterness become the voice that forms me.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: We do not have to win every conversation.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Christ already holds our life.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: That security gives us room to pause.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: To listen,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: to tell the truth,
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: to stay kind without becoming weak,
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: and sometimes to say less than we would have said before.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Grace can shape our words because grace is already shaping the person who speaks them.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Christ Jesus,
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: I notice how quickly hurt can become defensive
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: and anger can begin directing my words.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do not want another person's actions to determine who I become.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Give me enough inner steadiness to pause and listen for your Spirit.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let me speak truth without losing love,
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: set boundaries without contempt, and release what I cannot control into your hands.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: As you re-enter the conversations and decisions ahead, carry this prayer with you.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I release the need to win.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Grace shapes my words.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.