Skip to main content

Love Exercise 2

 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (I Corinthians 13:6)


“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. (John 18:38)

 

          With the runup to St. Valentine’s day, of course, the subject on Biblegateway.com is love. That’s OK. We need it. And the same exercises you did yesterday with changing “love” to God, to yourself, and to someone else, you can continue here, but it wouldn’t be polite of me to phone in my blog by copying and pasting that, so we get to move on.

          In the I Corinthians verse, we learn that love doesn’t do one thing, but does another. The things it doesn’t and does do are put in juxtaposition. Delighting in evil is the opposite of rejoicing with the truth. Evil rejects truth. Truth rejects evil. But if you ask people about truth, many of them will parrot Pilate. “What is truth?” Truth is in the eye of the beholder. What’s true to or for one person may not be true to or for another.

          But the same person who parrots Pilate (sorry, I like the alliteration) will do what Pilate did – by going out and declaring something to be true or false. “I find no basis for a charge against him.” Truth is relative but “all whites are racist,” and “a person is whatever gender they chose to be,” and “your God is fine for you, but not for me,” etc. Heaven forbid you reject those “truths.” Only “Nazis” and monsters reject those “truths.” The problem is…I identify as your god, which means you must do everything I command and believe everything I tell you for the rest of your life. If I believe that to be true, on what basis can you declare it to be false? How is that actually any different from someone with XY chromosomes is a female because he declares himself to be a female, has an operation and starts taking hormone therapy?      If I believed my self to be the rightful heir to the throne of England – and Queen Elizabeth II a fraud, would that make either of us so? If I believe that a mansion is mine, will the current resident be forced to move out?

          Love rejoices in the truth – not in wish-fulfillment.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Gal 6:10)   “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.   By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)           Joshua grinned when he saw Rex standing by the door, studying something on the ground. "Hey, man! Are we ready to do this thing?"          Rex looked up. "Josh, I can't do it. We're still best buds, but I can't stand your fiancée."           I've met "Rex" many times. I've been Rex. Joshua (Jesus) loves the Church. He's not a fool. He knows the Church is far from perfect, but she is His chosen bride. The Rexes of this world, who think themselves His friend, turn away from her. "You don't need the Church to...
Post a Comment
Read more

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ssssssubmmissssssionnn

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ . (Ephesians 5:21)             "Ssssssubmmisssssssionnn." Can't you just hear the serpent hissing this most horrible of words? If you listen to the serpent or the world, submission means groveling, allowing yourself to be abused, denying yourself your own humanity. Nothing could be worse than submission, could it?             Submission has never been a problem for me, as long as things are going the way I want them to. The rest of the time? Well, let's just say that while I don't know how to fight physically, I don't know how to not fight mentally. One of the fights I've been having with myself for years is about submission.             My first breakthrough took place on a trip to a bookstore. As I walked into the store, my thoughts were very clear. 1) I was goi...
Post a Comment
Read more