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Is it Tact or Fear of Man?

Charles Kingsley

Today's Devotional

Speaking the truth in love—Ephesians 4:15 (KJV).

Whenever we are tempted to say more than is needful, let us remember St. John’s words (in the only sermon we have on record of his), “Little children, love one another” (1 John 4:7), and ask God for his Holy Spirit, the spirit of love, which, instead of weakening a man’s words, makes them all the stronger in the cause of truth, because they are spoken in love.

How difficult it is to distinguish between the loving tact, which avoids giving offence to a weaker brother, and the fear of man, which brings a snare!

About the author and the source

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) is recognized for his novels Westward Ho! and Hereward the Wake (among others) and his children’s story The Water Babies. A churchman, he wove Christian themes throughout all his books. After his death, his wife Fanny compiled a thought for each day of the year from his publications and manuscripts.

Charles Kingsley. MS. Letter, 1842, in Daily Thoughts, edited by Fanny Kingsley. Macmillan and Co., 1885.

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