Selwyn now looks at his last pair of ‘opposites’ – truth and love. He introduces this discussion by saying that ‘some people are so focused on promoting love in their lives that they overlook the importance of biblical truth. … Others adopt the attitude that truth is all-important and pursue it at the expense of love’.
I agree with Selwyn when he says that ‘everywhere the Scripture binds truth and love together’. And, his conclusion, is excellent: “It should not be difficult for Spirit-filled believers to maintain this biblical balance, for the Holy Spirit is Himself, ‘the Spirit of truth’ whose first fruit is ‘love’.”
If, it is not difficult for Spirit-filled believers to deliver the truth of Jesus’ message with His love – then, why are they so few in number?
I found the following verses from Chapter 4, of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, to be very useful for me, this morning (Ephesians 4:11-24, NLT]: ” … Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
Notice – that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to renew our attitudes, and we need to actively put on our new nature. There is a stage of change, of growing, to become more and more like Jesus – it’s an active, on-going process.
It’s a real journey, and every day we must strive to take some more steps towards our eternal home. We cannot afford to stop and rest, we all should be driven by an urgency to spread the good news with truth and love, because our limited ’time’, is running out!
‘I say this in love’
Selwyn now looks at his last pair of ‘opposites’ – truth and love. He introduces this discussion by saying that ‘some people are so focused on promoting love in their lives that they overlook the importance of biblical truth. … Others adopt the attitude that truth is all-important and pursue it at the expense of love’.
I agree with Selwyn when he says that ‘everywhere the Scripture binds truth and love together’. And, his conclusion, is excellent: “It should not be difficult for Spirit-filled believers to maintain this biblical balance, for the Holy Spirit is Himself, ‘the Spirit of truth’ whose first fruit is ‘love’.”
If, it is not difficult for Spirit-filled believers to deliver the truth of Jesus’ message with His love – then, why are they so few in number?
I found the following verses from Chapter 4, of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, to be very useful for me, this morning (Ephesians 4:11-24, NLT]: ” … Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
Notice – that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to renew our attitudes, and we need to actively put on our new nature. There is a stage of change, of growing, to become more and more like Jesus – it’s an active, on-going process.
It’s a real journey, and every day we must strive to take some more steps towards our eternal home. We cannot afford to stop and rest, we all should be driven by an urgency to spread the good news with truth and love, because our limited ’time’, is running out!