Eggshells

Can it be called out
Lovingly and without judgement?
Whether mine or someone else’s
Knowing condemnation is solely for the Judge
Is it merciful to name sin
Sin?

If what is offensive to God is named
What offense is it to the offender?
Can I effectively lead with mercy?
Is it charity to ignore what is seen clearly
Letting myself or another continue in
Sin?

Does preaching the Good News
Preclude acknowledging missteps?
Does love not also demand integrity
And obedience impel truthfulness?
Does not the Word call out
Sin?

Stomping on a minefield of eggshells
I tell my children to cease what is dangerous
Certainty of love trumps authority
The basis of relationship prerequisites
True love would never trade complicity for
Sin

If I more gingerly trod others’ eggshells
I must only do so in fearless love
Owing that love must be fearlessly lived
More than spoken
And any rebuke ought to lovingly name
Sin

Likewise I cannot dread rebuke
When similarly offered in love
Acquiescence traverses a two-way path
Truly the plank in my own eye
Is more foreboding than the speck of another’s
Sin

“Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”