During the days of Ezekiel the prophet, God had a message for the Jews and it was not a warm and fuzzy greeting. The Lord was angry with the Jews for turning away from Him, worshipping other Gods and hardening their hearts. God had a message of warning, judgment and punishment that needed to be communicated and Ezekiel was just the man for the job. Interestingly, the Lord gave Ezekiel the message in the form of an edible scroll that tasted like honey to Ezekiel but contained words that would have been hard to swallow for the Jews.
Sometimes we are called upon to speak the truth in love and we would much rather have the choice between truth OR love. Usually, when I am in the mood to speak the truth on a difficult subject it is because I have been moved to anger and the chances of the message coming across in a loving way are pretty slim. When my motivation comes from love, I am so concerned about not hurting someone’s feelings that the truth ends up sugar-coated and diluted to the point of ineffectiveness. Paul said to the Ephesians; Instead, speaking the truth in love we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. Eph 4:15
So we need to grow up and speak the truth in love even when the truth is uncomfortable, controversial, divisive, awkward, unpopular or contrary to public opinion. Oh, yes we can’t forget the love part, either.