"Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Hebrews 3:12-13 ESV)
God is carrying all Christians through the process of sanctification, making us more like Jesus over time. But the writer of Hebrews seems clear to me that our own hearts are fighting in the opposite direction. What is the safeguard that God uses to overcome our natural tendency toward hard hearts? The answer is the Spirit's work through community. We need people exhorting us, or encouraging us away from sin, on a daily basis. This is "speaking the truth in love", and it dispels the notion that sanctification is a "me and God" thing. God built us for relationships, so it makes sense that he would use them to change us. Also, pretty much all of our sin happens in the context of relationships, so it makes sense that we change in that same context.
I sometimes tire of the daily need to repent of something I did to my wife. I recently told her, "If only I could go one day without having to deal with something I did or said wrong!" I think this way because I don't take my sin seriously enough. The minute I take a break from the battle is a minute I've lost to dark side. Ignoring sin is a step toward hardheartedness.
The same thing is true when it comes to saying hard things to people you love. We are told do it "today" and not to wait. The longer we wait, the less loving we are. Words spoken in love are like standing with a fellow soldier on a battlefield. Words never spoken are like walking away from a wounded brother to save yourself. God help us for our failure to love one another well.
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