Truth and Love

"I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another" (2 John 4,5). "That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the headChrist" (Eph. 4:14,15). "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23,24). "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart" (1 Peter 1:22). "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'" (John 14:6).

These and many other scriptures speak of truth and love and their close relationship. Often we separate them, and we do so to our own destruction. Both are in Christ, and we cannot have one without the other. Someone has summed this up in these words: "Love that does not speak the truth is not love, and truth that is not spoken in love is not truth." Paul says that the only way we are going to grow up in Christ is by speaking the truth in love to one another. We all want to grow up, and to be rooted and grounded in truth and love so that we will not be swayed by everything that surrounds us. It is truth that will set us free into the liberty of the sons of God so that we can do His will and please Him in all things, and it is love that must be the underlying motivation for all things. Our purpose here is to consider these areas again, praying that the Holy Spirit will quicken them to our hearts and shed light on our pathway that we may walk in truth and glorify the Lord.

Next: Truth Is In Christ