| | i knew i said that i was gonna keep writing about the topic of truth and love. but i think i've either lost my train of thought, or have just let the topic seep into my life instead of trying to convince others why it's important. but i guess i'll write about what's been going through my mind lately, just from reading the Bible and having conversations with other people.
it is interesting to note though, that many of the scriptures that speak of love either have truth in it or mention something about it. i know this is just a mere inkling of everything that's said about love and truth in the bible, but i guess these are the ones that stand out to me the most <or the ones i marked up vividly in my bible>.
"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." - 1 corinthians 13:7 <i also LOVE how this chapter mentions that you could be the holiest person alive with all these spiritual gifts, but if you don't have love it all amounts to NOTHING.>
"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ" - Ephesians 4:15
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." - Ephesians 5:1-2
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.." - philippians 1:9-10
"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart." - 1 peter 1:22
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth" - 1 john 3:18
the difficult question lies in how to find that balance between the two extremes and understand how to combine truth and love. a group of strong believers can have every intention to care for and encourage others, but if an individual would rather go to a weaker believers who are more approachable and loving, does it matter that the stronger ones have a better grasp of the truth?
on the other hand, just because a group of believers have better and stronger relationships with one another, but does not aim for the truth together, does it matter that they have a better grasp of what loving others mean? if there is no Christ-centered relationships, does that mean they actually do understand how to truly love others and be united?
i really like this piano analogy from A.W. Tozer, about how if people individually wholeheartedly seek thet truth, they are more united than if they just tried building relationships with everyone in their church.
"has it ever occured to you that one hundreed pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? they are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to one standard to which each one must individually bow. so one hundred worshippers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possible be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship."
i was really convicted by this, because for so long i focused so much on just building up unity and fellowship, whether in the church or in my fellowship. but the one thing i neglected to see was the importance of our INDIVIDUAL relationships with God, and our individual attitudes in striving towards sanctification. too often we try to do different things to build bonds, but then we forget to also affirm the importance of seeing TRUTH manifest itself in our own lives. still, it's important to remember that it's not just people's spiritual lives we're trying to guide or control, but their PERSONAL lives as well. so accountability isn't just jumping down people's throats when we see them doing something wrong, but to really build up a loving and trusting relationship with them.
"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." - 1 thessalonians 2:8
it's not enough to just share the truth. share your LIFE. share your struggles, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, frustrations, joys, praises, thanksgivings, requests, hopes, dreams, inspirations, revelations, and whatever else you can think of. because truth revels in authenticity and in breaking down walls.
my prayer is that we all seek to find that balance. to not be a condemning or judgemental christian, but not be a ashamed and timid one either.
let's not just be christians either.
let's be DISCIPLES of the ONE who made truth and love for what it is.
this is a reminder for myself too.
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| | Posted 4/29/2009 4:12 PM - 10 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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