Love Rejoices With The Truth
What kind of a parent would let their child play with a loaded gun because it was keeping them occupied? What kind of a doctor would keep quiet about the cancer cells because she didn’t want to hurt the patient’s feelings? What kind of a friend would keep silent about sinful behavior when he knew it was destroying his friend?
It’s incredibly difficult to tell someone you love what they need to hear especially if they don’t want to hear it. It’s not easy but it is loving. God doesn’t call us to be watchdogs, constantly analyzing every move and decision of those around us, but he does call us to love them enough to speak up when they are in danger even if it’s hard.
Jesus models that kind of love when he tells the truth about the danger of playing around with sin. It’s his love that speaks the truth about your sinful condition and how deadly it is if not addressed. But his greatest act of love was addressing your sin as your substitute. He lived and died for you so that these words would be undeniably true, “You are forgiven.”
Rejoice in that truth, and see how God strengthens you to speak that same truth in love.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. - 1 Corinthians 13:6
