You’re going to have to tell people things they don’t want to hear.

Maybe they did something to offend or hurt you, or perhaps you’ve noticed something in their life that is out of whack and needs addressing.

Whatever the reason, your love, and care for others will require you to have hard conversations.

How you go about doing so is paramount.

One of the best sets of questions comes from Scott Kedersha who will ask, “Can I share something with you?” or “Can I give you some feedback on some things I have seen in you?”

That’s exactly how you approach a difficult conversation.

Conversations go smoother when you lead by asking permission to share hard things.

Sadly, people more often choose the opposite approach.

Be different and stand out from the crowd.

Care and love enough not only to have the hard conversation but to do so with a soft and gentle touch.

‘You catch more flies with honey’ as they say.

Two years ago, I sat crunching numbers in a cubical while listening with wrapped attention to a short 10 minutes of audio from John Piper. That days episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast contained a snippet from one of Pastor John's epic sermons entitled What Is The Will of God and How Do We Know It? In it he answers the questions of knowing God's will in your life and how to then live.

The sermon, and the snippet presented on the APJ podcast, offer great insight for tackling the most pressing issue facing our growth. "95% of your life", Piper says, "is unpremeditated: thoughts, attitudes, actions are spontaneous. They are just spill over." With so much of our life constituted of our doing things unplanned and without forethought how are we to ever live as Christ has called us to? How do we keep from responding in anger, being short, prideful, fearful, or apathetic?

"There is only one way to live the Christian life." Piper explains, "Don't be conformed but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. It's our only hope. Life is too spontaneous." In short, the answer to the question of how to respond rightly, is that we can't. Not without running to the Father—spending time in His Word, and pleading with him to work it in us.

"If there is any stuff, junk, pride, left down there", Piper prays, "that is just causing the stuff to come out unbidden and unplanned, get at me down here, Lord." May that be our prayer each day. Let us beg The Lord to get at us at the deepest levels of desire and emotion as we feast on God's word, and spend time before His throne in prayer this week. None of us will be the men or women in Christ we want to be this week. However it is our hope that over many years of faithful devotion—we will come to resemble Jesus more and more.

Have a great week my friends. Hopefully these two resources will be helpful and encouraging to you all.