Truth Without Love is Brutal, but Love Without Truth is Hypocrisy

There are so many false ideas about what love is today. There is perhaps no word in the English language that has been more twisted, contorted, distorted, and misunderstood than the word love.

       What we see modeled for us on television and in the movies is a complete misrepresentation of Biblical love. What is tricky is that they seem so similar. Worldly love is a counterfeit love, and although it seems similar to Biblical love, it is inherently different.

       Although both have a strong sense of concern, a focus on meeting needs, and a desire for well-being and fulfillment, their primary focus is very different. In the world's view of love, the self is the recipient of these things. With Biblical love, others are the recipients as we receive and then share the selfless love that God has given us.

       The world tells us that we have found love when we find someone who makes us feel special, makes our days brighter, meets our needs, and realizes how special we are. The world's idea of love is completely self-centered.

       The Bible tells us that true love, revealed in Jesus Christ, finds its power in God and is expressed in our care for others. This is true in every arena that love touches. It is true in our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is true in our families and homes. It is especially true with our spouses.

       The root of the world's counterfeit love is sin. It is based on the idea that the hole in one's life can be filled by oneself or by receiving love from another human being. This counterfeit isn't love. It puts pressure on another person to meet our needs. When they fail, we experience pain.

       We may label this pain as communication issues, differing agendas, or conflicting goals, but those issues are merely symptoms of the greater issue. Sin has made us self-centered and hindered our ability to cry out to receive true and healing love from God.

Consider these distinctions:

World Love versus God’s Love

Source: Self vs. God

Motivation: To get vs. to give

Purpose: To use vs. to be used

Value: determined by usability vs.  determined by the inherent worth of the other

Nature: Selfish vs. self-less

Characteristics: Controlling, manipulative vs. yielding and serving Hates suffering vs. long-suffering Divides and separates vs. unifies and builds Based on feelings vs. based on commitment Quickly angered vs. peaceful Easily frustrated vs. patient Unforgiving, resentful, and bitter vs. forgiving 

       Then here is the issue:  this is not the love that we display to our fellow believers and it is not the love that we display to the world.  This worldly view of love has infiltrated our churches and we have let it redefine our love for others. 

Here is the biblical foundation of love:

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." ~ Romans 12:9-10

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." ~ 1 John 4:7-8

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." ~ 1 John 4:11

"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." ~ Colossians 3:14

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." ~ John 4:9-12

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." ~ 1 John 4:16-18

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." ~ John 15:12-13

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