Love that Refuses to Ignore the Truth

Scripture:

John 3:16–17

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (NIV)

Devotional Reflection:

God’s love requires justice.

The Lord looked at humanity in its pitiful state of sin and was moved by love. However, this love prompted Him to send His Son to die for the sins of the world. We might suppose God could have taken the record of sin collected since the beginning of time and simply erased it and pretended it never happened. He could have removed righteousness as a requirement to be saved from our sin. But to simply erase sin would deny justice. God is a judge. The law had been broken. Justice was required. Either humanity would receive the punishment required by God’s law, or someone else who never sinned would have to offer Himself as a substitute, allowing Himself to be punished for the sin of humanity. This is the route our God chose. He could not set aside justice. He could not set aside the law. Sin had to be dealt with.

We live in a day where the word “love” has been usurped by the world to mean the absence of justice. A new definition of love has emerged that no longer requires justice. This new perversion attempts to do what God would not do. It ignores sin.

Now, to love means to never confront sin. Though it destroys the one who engages in it, the world proposes that love means to let a person remain in the sin that will ruin their life. Rather than risking hurt feelings to confront destructive behaviors, we are told that love simply looks the other way. But how can this be love? If a person were drowning, we would never look the other way and suppose it was the loving thing to do. Yet, when a person is wrapped so deeply in a destructive lifestyle, we are supposed to watch without a care as their spirit slips into what could be described as a spiritual death ruled by deep bitterness or extreme depression. That can’t be love.

Love demands that we go and do all we can to help a person turn their life around rather than pretending everything is okay while death swallows up everything good in their life.

God’s justice, however, is expressed in kindness, gentleness, and grace. To love others, we must do the same, helping them to move away from sin to find salvation in Jesus. But love requires this to be done with kindness, gentleness, and grace. This is the true definition of love.

Prayer

Lord, help me to love the way You love—never ignoring truth, yet always extending grace. Give me the courage to confront what destroys, and the gentleness to lead others toward life in You. Amen.