Unkindness is never a sign of strength.

No one is lastingly impressed by a novice who confuses unkindness with strength. We do not have to be a boor in order to be orthodox.

While it is extremely difficult for human beings to live a balanced life, we ought to seek God's grace to do so. The Bible says that our Great Pattern, the Lord Jesus, came "Full" of both "grace and truth." John 1:14, 17. He was the perfect embodiment of Sweetness in Strength.

This combination is not a take-it or leave-it option.

It is a command even as the new birth is a command We disobey God's exhortation to balanced living and balanced ministry at the peril of our own emotional well-being and, more significantly, at the peril of the testimony of Christ's Church.

"Speak the truth in love." Ephesians 4:15

"Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."; Colossians 4:6

The ministries of some are bland and insipid, being saltless.

The ministries of others only sting and bite, being graceless.