Truth is Love
I recently read an article that had my mind turning doctrinal cartwheels. A popular evangelical leader told a group of college-aged adults that the biggest temptation they will face as Christians is “set[ting] the Bible aside in an attempt to be more like Jesus.” She went on to say that, “This will be perhaps the cleverest of the devil’s schemes in your generation. Sacrificing truth for love’s sake.”
Wow. So the Devil’s cleverest scheme to lure us into the arms of Hell is to have us to ignore the truth of the Bible in favor of being “more like Jesus?” Satan would have us love others as Christ loves us? Huh?!? I think I remember the Pharisees saying something similar when Christ healed a man who was “possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb.” To quote the religious leaders of Christ’s day: “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matthew 12:22, 24) Christ’s reply? “If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then shall his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26) In other words, if Satan is in a war against Christ, why would he let Christ use him, the Devil, to take out his own devils and heal people, all in the name of love?
To avoid the Devil’s trick of “sacrificing truth for love’s sake,” we must first define love. Corinthians 13:4-7: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” So, how many hours does Satan set aside each day to be kind, or to fight for the truth to come out, or not hold that grudge against God for casting him and his minions out of Heaven for rebellion a few eons ago? I am sure Jeremiah was quoting God when he said, “A leopard can’t change it spots.” (Jeremiah 13:23).
Only pure love heals. The kind of love that Christ had. Not the manipulative, controlling, conditional love that Satan and most of humanity have in their minds that says, “I will love you only if you do this for me or say that for me.”
To understand the pure love of Christ, we go to the Gospel of Mark. Chapter five tells of a woman who “had an issue of blood for twelve years. And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”
At the moment this woman touched Christ’s robe, with the intent of being healed by Him, Christ felt his virtue go out of his body. This is Christ’s power. His virtue. His goodness. His character of high moral excellence. His perfect love.
We need to begin to understand that it is love that heals, not our judgment, rejection, or any other kind of disrespect. We all are God’s children, equal in his eyes, and it is our challenge to become less human and more divine by learning how to love like God: Unconditionally. Just like it was Adam and Eve’s challenge to choose to disobey God in order to experience for themselves free will coupled with love, God’s two greatest gifts to His children.
Love “does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.” (Corinthians 13:6). Truth is love and love is truth. No sacrifice is needed to obtain one over the other because truth and love walk together hand in hand. Let God decide who makes it into His Heaven and who does not.
For me, “You will never regret showing love.” Mother Owl
