Have you ever been talking to someone and then, in a light bulb style ah-ha moment, they reach into their coat pocket, pull out some breath mints and offer you one? Nice gesture, right? But don’t you get the impression that maybe they’re trying to tell you something? Maybe you’re overthinking it… or maybe this is, as you suspect, their way of telling you that you have fallen victim of halitosis.
These little veiled and strategic exchanges happen all the time between people and most of the time they are about much larger issues than a case of stinky breath. Sometimes a hard word comes in an indirect way and we have to be really listening to perceive that the word is actually directed right at us.
This week we’re going to explore the apostle Paul’s not-so-subtle corrective word to two of his friends at the church in Philippi. Somewhere in our exploration we might just find that he is reaching into his coat pocket to offer us a breath mint too!
